To Protect a Dream
by UsagiGoRawr
Summary: As the ten year anniversary of Mamoru's tea house approaches, she hires a genin team to help her renovate. However, unbidden memories resurface when she meets the infamous copy-nin, and her peaceful life slowly comes apart as their encounter seems to draw the attention of various other shinobi as well. Kakashi/OC
1. Chapter 1

So this is a thing I've got loose ideas for, I'm just gonna leave it here. :D

To my One Piece readers, I'm sorry I have ADHD. I suck. I haven't forgotten, I'm just distracted and trying to make it perfect.

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Chapter 1: Just Mamoru

* * *

Mamoru watched the steam rise from her tea cup in a sort of drowsy trance as she waited for the genin team she hired to arrive. When a friend had first suggested she hire genin to help with her tea house renovations, Mamoru had been strangely hesitant to follow the suggestion.

The thought of hiring shinobi for such a job just seemed like overkill. After all, weren't they supposed to be doing more important things than painting cafes and moving furniture?

But then her friend said something that made Mamoru quickly change her mind.

"You know it's easy and cheap right? All you have to do is turn in a request to the mission assignment desk."

"Stop right there," Mamoru had said, holding a hand out. "Did you say cheap?"

Cheap was the key word, and really, her friend should have led with that instead. All qualms aside, Mamoru had gone straight to the mission desk to make her request the next day. Only a few days later, she had gotten a message that her request would be fulfilled. The genin team would meet her at her tea house in the morning just as requested.

So, as the morning dawned, casting a filter of light through her tea house windows, Mamoru sat at the bar and took satisfying sips of hot green tea. With a soft smile, she surveyed her pride and joy, the Mugen Tea House.

The renovations had taken a more open garden concept when she designed them. Most of the heavy work was already done by her contractors. As she waited for the genin, Mamoru pictured the scene her customers would come back to once Mugen reopened.

Upon entering the establishment through a heavy set of screen doors, the customer would be met with the original cafe layout. Hard oak floors with casual wooden tables arranged for the come-and-go customers. The bar Mamoru sat at was newly constructed and located to the left of the entrance. Behind the bar, glass jars of tea were lined along shelves, serving to make it easier for her workers to access, but also as decoration for the cafe. As a rule of thumb, tea should be stored in dark containers to avoid losing their flavor, but since the cafe went through tea so quickly, that rule didn't apply for them.

While the new bar was great, it was the renovations beyond the cafe that really excited Mamoru. Opposite the entrance was a wide door frame that led deeper into the tea house where the open roof patio lay. The patio flooring was a lighter wood compared to the cafe's, to better coordinate with the decorative plants and the large tree that hung over the tea house. The canopy leaves filtered the soft morning light, casting a mosaic pattern against the wood floor and tables.

In addition, the patio was framed on four sides by tatami hallways and rooms full of low tables and cushions. The rooms had the option for closed screen doors for more private parties.

Truly, it was an expansion and renovation worthy of ten years of business. Ten years of hard work, sweat, and number-crunching. If Mamoru could go back in time to tell her younger self about her current life, she was sure she wouldn't have believed it.

Most of the reconstruction had already been done in late winter, and the spring season had entered with a flourish of blossoms and brisk mornings. Mamoru didn't notice how much warmer the season had gotten until she found herself sweating from being bundled in her winter clothing, a layered kimono over tight-fitting clothing. Her friends would laugh if they knew she had gotten into the habit of wearing shinobi clothing under her kimono, but honesty, it was comfortable and well-made. If she could, she would have wanted to wear it all the time. Now she easily shed the layers and just kept to a lighter kimono.

As Mamoru became lost in a daydream, a loud ruckus outside shifted her attention to the entrance. She could see through the glass window panes a colorful set of genin loudly arguing with each other.

"I'm telling you Naruto - we're gonna be late!"

"I know- I know! But did you see me beat teme? I was like a flash! Whoosh!"

"Ugh, it doesn't matter we need to meet the client."

"Sasuke! Admit I beat you!"

"Hn."

Mamoru watched the arguing genin outside with doubt slowly creeping into her mind. Maybe she should have kept the contractors on. The serenity of her morning had disappeared as quickly as the arrival of the shinobi.

"Now, now." An older voice said, "Let's go meet our client, shall we?"

"Yes sensei!"

The screen doors slid open, and a tall man entered her tea house. He noticed her immediately, blinking his single, visible eye at her slowly, before it curved with his polite greeting.

"Hel-"

"Hey!" An orange-clad genin interrupted his sensei, pushing past him to greet a bewildered Mamoru. "Sorry we're a little late! It's because Kakashi-sensei was taking his sweet time to meet us, he said he saw a black cat and had to take the long way around." All the while, he looked around the cafe eagerly. "I've never been here before! I heard the tea and food are great!"

"Naruto!" The pink-haired girl scolded. "We need to introduce ourselves! H-Hi, we're here at your request for the D-rank mission. I'm Haruno Sakura." She shyly twisted her fingers behind her back, looking over to the only dark-haired boy. "Sasuke-kun, you need to introduce yourself too."

"Hn. Uchiha Sasuke."

The girl seemed to squeal internally at his cool introduction. Naruto, Mamoru had gathered, was glaring at the other boy. He turned to her with his sour face, but which immediately brightened.

"Well I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Future Hokage!" Then, as if remembering something, he pointed his thumb at a dejected-looking man behind them. "Oh, and that's Kakashi-sensei."

Mamoru couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of her. A rowdy bunch full of interesting characters. They looked like a lot of fun to her. Mamoru placed her empty tea cup on the bar and slid off her seat. She supposed it was time for her own introduction.

Brushing the wrinkles off her kimono, Mamoru then clasped her hands together and gave them a well-practiced bow. Her dark hair fell gently to the side and her eyelashes lowered as she gave them her greeting.

"It's nice to meet you all, thank you for coming. My name is Mamoru, and I am the owner of Mugen Tea House."

"You're the owner nee-chan? But you look so young! I thought the owner of this place would be some hag or whatever." Sakura deftly hit him and ignored his yelp of pain.

"Idiot- didn't you read the mission scroll?" Then, in a one-eighty, "I'm a huge fan of your tea house Mamoru-san! I used to come all the time when I was at the Academy. All the kunoichi say its the top cafe date spot!"

Mamoru chuckled. "Yes, I remember." She has often seen a pink-haired student at the cafe.

"Really?" Sakura said excitedly. It felt so long ago, coming to the cafe with Ino-pig, but they were happy memories nonetheless.

"I remember all my customers." Mamoru said proudly. Then she turned to Naruto. "And while I can't say I'm that young anymore, I've been in charge of this place for ten years. So thank you, both of you, for your compliments." She winked at Naruto and Sakura with a grin. "Anywho, let's get to work shall we? You'll be helping me for the next three days, since that's as long as I can keep the shop closed."

"What will we be doing?" Sakura asked. The mission scroll had simply said renovation assistance. She was curious to know what they would actually be doing.

Mamoru went behind the bar and lifted up pails of paint, varnish, and brushes. "First, painting!"

The genin visibly deflated.

"For three days?" Naruto whined. "I thought maybe we could do something more exciting."

Sasuke seemed to agree with his genin teammate, based on his pinched expression.

"Well what did you expect from a tea house owner? It's not like I need escorts or anything in Konoha."

The genin sighed.

"After we finish for the day, I'll make you some tea and you can try some of my new pastries. How about that?"

They perked up immediately.

"Yes! Let's do this!" And they set off to work while Mamoru instructed them to paint the wooden furniture with varnish. Once she was done assigning tasks, she remembered there was one more person on the team. She turned to the silent jounin sitting in the corner reading an orange book. He flipped a page.

Mamoru wasn't too familiar with the shinobi-side of the village's social circle, but she was pretty sure this was the infamous copy-nin. It was a little intimidating to be left alone with a high ranking ninja, but Mamoru pressed on. "I'm sorry, what was your name again? I don't believe I caught it all." Naruto had only said it was Kakashi-sensei.

The man looked up at her, wrinkling his eye in a disarming expression. "Ah, that would be Hatake Kakashi. It's a pleasure, Mamoru-san." He went back to reading his book. It was almost as if he didn't want to talk to her. He flipped a page. Was he ignoring her?

For some reason, it annoyed her. This was the infamous copy-nin? She didn't know why she felt a little annoyed, it was a feeling that seemed to well up from nowhere, like an echo of a memory. But she supposed shinobi were strange after all, it could just be that they didn't bother with civilian niceties.

Mamoru frowned, watching him read. "You're not going to help your students?"

"Mah, they can handle it. I'm confident in their abilities."

Almost immediately, they heard a loud clatter in the patio. Then, "Everything's okay!" Naruto yelled.

Mamoru turned back to the jounin and raised her brows. "Is that so?" She placed her hands on her hips.

He seemed unabashed. "Yes."

She supposed the children's help was enough. The jounin was merely here for supervision of his team anyways, probably.

Mamoru hummed. "All right. Well, would you like some tea while you read-" And she paused to read the title of his book, "-Icha Icha Paradise." She colored almost immediately. "Uh-"

"Why yes, tea would be lovely." He didn't miss a beat, looking up at her with a friendly, if not amused expression. "Do you have any oolong?"

Mamoru opened her mouth, and closed it. She nodded abruptly, turning away to hide her inflamed face. Who reads porn in public? She asked herself. She quickly walked to the bar to set about making tea for the white-haired ninja. As she muttered to herself under her breath, she didn't notice the man watching her with interest from behind his book. He turned a page almost instinctively when she approached with his tea.

"Here you go, careful, it's hot."

He smiled up at her, accepting the cup, then looked back down to his book, turning another page.

She got red again, and walked away towards the kids to help them.

Kakashi's eye followed her.

* * *

Hours passed and they had gotten a lot done for the day with no further incidents and only minor fights between the boys. Mamoru was quickly learning the social dynamic of the group. To sum it up, Sakura had a crush on Sasuke. Naruto had a crush on Sakura. And Sasuke was determined to be unaffected by the both of them, but couldn't help picking fights with Naruto, and likewise. Meanwhile, their benevolent sensei let them do all the work and read Icha Icha Paradise.

Mamoru made some iced tea for the kids and refilled Kakashi's cup. Then she brought out the pastries for everyone in the cafe area.

"These are so good nee-chan! Did you come up with these yourself?"

She nodded. "Yup, those are going to be my new line of matcha pastries once the shop reopens. I'll be holding an anniversary party, so come by to celebrate with me. As thanks for your help with my renovations."

"Absolutely!" Sakura said. She snickered, thinking about Ino's reaction. "Ino-pig's gonna be so jealous that I got to try Mugen's pastries for free!"

"Weeelll it's not really free if we're working for it right?" Naruto asked, looking like he was thinking hard about it.

Sasuke smirked. "So the dobe can think."

Almost immediately, Naruto flared up shouting. "That's it teme, you wanna fight?" He stood abruptly, and roughly brushed against the table they sat around. The glasses of iced tea jostled, and one tipped over the side of the table.

Mamoru watched as the glass fell. Without thinking she reached down to catch it, but missed, and the glass shattered, nicking her fingers and drawing blood.

"Oh-" She murmured.

"Look what you did Naruto!" Sakura shouted.

"Yeah, dobe."

"Sh-shut up! Agh, sorry nee-chan!"

But their voices seemed so far away. The shatter of glass didn't startle her- no, it was the sudden pain and the blood that drew from her finger. Strangely, it reminded her of something.

Her first memory was the sharp sting of pain. But it was different. Harsher. More painful. Then it was the smell of blood. An angry voice shouting. Confusing demands. But above it all, she remembered the chilling fear with no discernable root cause.

A low voice addressed her,_ "You will tell us what you know."_

She was so afraid. She could feel her lips move to answer, "I can't- I don't know."

_"I won't repeat myself."_

Somebody shook her slightly.

"Are you all right, Mamoru-san?"

She startled, raising her vacant gaze to Kakashi's concerned face. For just a moment, she imagined another, more looming figure overlapping him. She swallowed, but quickly wrapped her finger in a towel and smiled. "I'm fine- sorry about that. I'll get this cleaned up."

She quickly got a broom and swept up the pieces of glass. Almost immediately after, she excused herself to the back room to wash her cuts.

"What was that?" Sakura asked with concern, whispering, "she got so pale."

"It... looked like she was afraid of something." Sasuke said. But he couldn't think of what. It was merely a cut after all. If not for the fearful look in her eyes and the noticeable tremor of her hands, he would have thought it was just fear of blood. But something was telling him it wasn't that.

Naruto looked at the back room in worry. "Maybe Mamoru-neechan's in trouble? Like a damsel in distress!" Naruto grew excited at the possibility of a more exciting mission.

"No," Kakashi said. "You all are dismissed for the day. I'll stay to help Mamoru-san bandage her cut."

"But sensei! We can't just leave right now!"

"I'll tell her I excused you for the day. Be back tomorrow morning." The jounin said with finality.

Naruto grumbled. The other two knew a losing battle.

"Fine, Kakashi-sensei! But you better not be a creep to nee-chan!"

Kakashi pretended to be hurt. "I'm a respectable shinobi Naruto, I'd never be a creep."

The genin leveled him with a dubious stare. Somehow that actually hurt him. But they soon left after calling out that they were leaving. As they left the tea house, Naruto turned to the others. "So that was weird right? Sensei never stays with the client after."

Sakura squealed. "Do you think he fell in love with her at first sight? Mamoru-san is pretty after all!"

Sasuke furrowed his brows. "Did we ever catch her last name?"

"Huh..." The other two said.

* * *

Hearing the children leave, Mamoru came back out with a towel wrapped around her hands. Her thoughts were still scattered, but for the most part, she shook it off.

"Already? I was planning to send them home with pastries." Suddenly she realized she was alone with the jounin. It wasn't that she thought he was intimidating or anything, just… she was having a difficult time talking to him. Which was strange for her since talking to customers and business partners came so easy for her.

"They'll be back tomorrow." Kakashi said. He approached her and asked her to hold out his hands. "May I?"

"Uh, sure?" She did so hesitantly.

His hand were large and cool, his fingers slender and steady. She was surprised by how gentle he was in unwrapping her hands and examining the small cuts.

"Are you alright?" He asked. His voice was a low murmur. He held her hands as if they were fragile glass.

Mamoru swallowed. She never noticed it the entire day, until now, as she looked up at him. This man standing in front of her was actually really good-looking. His eyelashes were longer than hers, unexpectedly, and when he looked at her from under them she felt like he was staring straight through her.

He was a good head taller than her, and was clearly in good shape from his occupation. Mamoru never really paid attention to shinobi gossip or news, but even she knew this man was well-known for a reason in his field.

"Mamoru-san?" Now he looked at her as if he were amused.

She realized she hadn't answered his question. "Oh- yes, I'm fine. Th-thank you for your concern." She muttered. What was wrong with her today? She pulled her hands from his grasp. "I just need to wrap them in bandages now that I cleaned them. No big deal, Hatake-san."

"Kakashi."

"What?"

"It's only fair. Since we've been calling you Mamoru-san."

"Th-that's well, you don't really have a choice since I don't have a last name."

"Just Mamoru, then?"

"That's right."

"Either way," And even under that mask, she could tell he smiled at her, if the glint in his eye wasn't enough. "Kakashi is fine. We'll be working together for the next two days."

Mamoru swallowed again. She suddenly regretted putting in that request for help now. Two more days with this strange, confusing man. "I understand... Kakashi-san." Then she really thought about it. "Wait- you didn't do anything today!"

"Moral support."

"All you did was read Icha Icha Paradise!"

"Well- it's time for me to go, jounin duties and all." He waved his hand and with a polite smile, and left quickly after through the entrance.

A moment later the screen doors opened again, and Mamoru's friend came in with a shocked look on her face.

The short-haired brunette looked as if she was barely containing her excitement. "Was that Hatake-fucking-Kakashi?"

"Rena-chan! Uh, yes?"

Rena shook Mamoru by the shoulders. "What the heck was he doing here?"

"Remember when you told me about hiring genin teams? Well I did, and he's their sensei."

Her face looked beyond shocked. "Mamoru-chan, he's like, the hottest shinobi next to Genma and Asuma."

Mamoru turned red. "O-okay."

"That's it? That's all you got to say? Give me the details! You spent the whole day with him!"

"Rena-chan, it wasn't that big a deal."

The woman threw her hands up in the air. "Bull, so much bull."

"Well, his genin painted the furniture. And he read Icha Icha Paradise." If possible, Mamoru turned redder. "And then I cut myself on glass, and he checked my cuts. That's all. Really."

Rena looked unconvinced. "Okay, well, I mean- at least with porn, he might actually know what he's doing in bed. But he checked your cuts?" Her tone quickly changed to worry, "You're hurt? Let me see that. It's not like you to be so careless." She turned Mamoru's hands this way and that with a scrutinizing gaze and tutted. She was such a mother hen. Mamoru sighed.

"Why aren't you more weirded out about the porn thing like me? And the cuts aren't that bad, I was just distracted, simple mistake."

"Eh, well you know, sex is normal and all that." Satisfied with her checking, Rena nodded, they weren't too bad. "Clean cuts, easily bandaged. Did something happen for you to cut yourself like that?"

Mamoru shook her head. "Just remembered something I didn't want to."

Rena looked concerned, but she changed the subject as she went to be back room to get bandages. "By the way, how did your date go the other day? That guy with the silk business, he seemed all right when he came by." She came back with a few bandage rolls.

Mamoru watched as Rena wrapped her hands in bandages. She winced, not from the pain but the memory of the date. "Actually, he didn't show."

"What- are you kidding me? He stood you up?" She looked like she was going to kill someone and began muttering angrily to herself. "How could this happen, again!"

Mamoru sighed, long used to it by now. "It is what it is, I suppose we didn't connect well enough. Just like all the other men."

"Don't give up Mamoru, you're a freaking angel! What man wouldn't be interested in you? Look at this place," she gestured around, "You're the successful owner of Mugen Tea House, you're a total catch!"

Mamoru groaned. "Apparently not, judging by the dozens of men that left me hanging. Honestly, I don't even know why I bother. I wasn't exactly enamored by any of them."

Rena sighed, "Well, look. It's not all bad. You just haven't found the one yet. They all sucked anyways. They were probably intimidated by you. But Hakate Kakashi though," She winked. "He's like the hottest bachelor amongst the shinobi in Konoha, and I doubt he'd be intimidated by a successful woman like you."

"Rena, please." Mamoru whined, it was just like her friend to do and say these things. "I doubt he's interested. I'm sure he's busy being a ninja and all that. Besides, he's just so… difficult to understand." She thought about how he ignored her for most of the day, nothing she was too worked up about, but then she remembered the feeling of his hands holding hers. She turned away so Rena couldn't see her blush. She went about cleaning up the plates and cups from earlier.

Rena sighed, putting the bandages away and helping Mamoru. "Just get to know him. You got him for what? Two more days right?"

"Yes, I hired them for three days total. Their sensei is strange, but the kids are great." Mamoru smiled. "It's a good change of pace."

Rena lips curved into a mischievous smile. "Well I expect full updates." They finished up their cleaning. "Now come on, let's get dinner."

Mamoru really had regrets now, looking at Rena's obvious pleasure at her discomfort, but she chuckled. All in all, things were going to get busy again, Mamoru felt. They locked up and headed to the village center, talking all the way about their day.

* * *

Elsewhere in the village, the sun was setting in a way that colored the sky in orange and red hues. It painted Konoha and the villagers gold in the dimming light, and the Third Hokage watched it all from his office windows with his hands clasped in back of him. He was contemplative, his thoughts leaning towards the nostalgic.

Behind him, a masked figure stood at attention, waiting for the Sandaime to address him.

The Hokage thought of all the moments that really mattered in his life. The decisions he had to make to protect the will of fire. The sacrifices he had to make for the sake of the village. He wondered if they would be worth it in the end.

Finally, "Report."

"Yes sir," said the Anbu operative. "The target has been contacted as of this morning. Nothing worthy to note, however the target's episodes are becoming increasingly regular."

The Sandaime sighed. "Continue to keep watch. Report if the episodes get worse, but don't interfere. You are dismissed. Good work."

"Yes sir!"

The Anbu operative disappeared.

The Sandaime sighed again. "Biwako… what should I do?"

* * *

*Biwako is the Sandaime's deceased wife.

I'll be loosely updating this, probably more of a slice of life drama if anything.


	2. Chapter 2

To coolalexia12, MintyWritesFiction, smolstan, and Guest, thanks so much for the reviews all! It definitely helps motivate me to push out chapters! I can't promise a weekly release, but I'll do my best. ^^

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Chapter 2: Old Habits Die Hard

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The mission assignment office was in a buzz. Administrative workers were organizing mission scrolls left and right, which was nothing new, but the general undertone of noise was filled with nothing but gossip.

"Did you hear?" An administrative worker asked her coworker, who had just returned to work from sick leave.

"Hear what?"

"About the D-rank mission!"

The man sniffed, still recovering from his cold. "D-rank mission?"

He looked at his pile of D-ranks in desperate need of sorting. There was nothing exciting about D-ranks, all the shinobi knew that. They were subsidized civic projects meant to help the genin learn to work together while benefiting the village. Despite how much the genin complained about the work being boring, it was an important part of the village's basic economy. Regardless, he had to agree D-ranks were nothing to gossip about.

He gave his coworker a strange look. "What about it?"

His coworker grew excited. "I know, that was my reaction too! Weird right? But I've never seen a bunch of jounin fight for a D-rank before!"

"Wait, what?" The sniffling man said loudly, then lowering his voice, "What do you mean? Did something happen while I was out?"

The coworker looked around, and really there was no point in whispering since everyone else was talking about the same thing one way or another. "Okay, so a few days ago, we got a request in from one of the businesses. Standard stuff, just asking for help with renovations and the like. Real boring work."

"Okay...?"

"But that's the thing! It was a just a typical request- and yet a couple of jounins were fighting over whose team would take it! Even some jounins without teams wanted it!"

The man couldn't imagine it. "Who? Which jounins could possibly want a D-rank?"

"Well-"

Another man walked in, looking over the chattering office. "Quiet down and get back to work!" The noise instantly died down.

The two administrative workers straightened and began sorting through their scrolls.

"Tell you later." The coworker whispered.

The man sniffed, regretting the cold he had. He always missed the good stuff.

* * *

Kakashi stood before the memorial stone, slowly tracing names engraved on the stone with his eye. It was a sight he didn't need the sharingan to memorize with how often he came here. A slow breeze wafted and time almost seemed to stand still. Always, he lost himself in regrets and memories of old.

Someone approached him, purposely stepping on a pile of dead leaves to make themselves known. Not that he would have needed to with Kakashi's sharp instincts.

Kakashi merely glanced at the approaching figure. He'd felt the man long approaching from his chakra. It was a familiar presence. Sometimes, he was even at the memorial stone before Kakashi would arrive.

The man waved, "Yo. Aren't you going to be late?"

Kakashi turned back to the stone. "Mah, my students can start without me just fine."

"That's a bad habit you got." The man tucked his bouquet of poppies under his arm and pulled out a box of cigarettes. With practiced ease, he lit one between his lips and took a long drag.

"You're telling me that?" Kakashi pointed out.

The man only sighed, letting out a plume of smoke. "What can I say? Bad habits and ninjas go hand in hand." He stood next to the copy-nin as they stared at the memorial stone, lost in their own thoughts for a moment. The silence was easy. Familiar.

Another sigh of smoke. "Kurenai's angry with you."

Kakashi shrugged indifferently.

"Not gonna lie, I am too a little. That was a dirty move you pulled."

"We're shinobi. Dirty is part of the job Asuma."

Sarutobi Asuma flicked his cigarette butt at the other ninja. "Yeah well, don't blame me if you get stabbed by Kurenai in your sleep."

Kakashi snorted. "I'd like to see her try."

Cocky asshole, Asuma thought. Kakashi wasn't the one that had to deal with a raging Kurenai.

He placed the bouquet he brought at the foot of the memorial stone. Kakashi watched him.

"You don't want to be late Kakashi, you know she hates that."

Kakashi closed his eye, as if remembering a memory. "Yeah." Then he disappeared with a shunshin.

Crouching before the stone, Asuma searched for the one spot on the memorial he knew by heart. He took one last drag of his cigarette before he put it out.

Turning his head to the side, he exhaled the smoke away from the stone.

"Sorry," He said, tracing a name with his fingers. "I know you hate the smoke."

* * *

Mamoru watched the kids- no that's not quite right, the genin, paint the newly furnished tables and chairs with another coat of varnish. She kept forgetting they were ninja. These little kids that didn't even reach past her shoulder. But watching them now, bickering with one another, she couldn't help but think of them as just children. They were a refreshing change to her usual routine.

The children had arrived early in the day, on time actually, though without their sensei. She quickly got them to work with only minimal complaints from an energetic Naruto. Today, she was helping instead of just supervising. Dressed casually in a loose shirt and slacks, Mamoru dipped her brush into a can of dark paint and ran the tip along one of the wall panels out in the patio. She had newspapers covering the tatami hallways so splatters of paint wouldn't ruin them. The children were on the patio itself, each working on their own set of furniture.

"Hey, Naruto-kun," Mamoru called. It had struck her when he introduced himself, but she never had the chance to ask. "Why do you want to become Hokage?"

Naruto stopped mid-bickering with Sasuke and grinned widely. He jumped to his feet and sniffed proudly with his arms crossed against his chest. "So that everyone will know my name! I want to be acknowledged by everyone in the village!"

He threw a sneer at the Uchiha painting a table in the far corner. "Even that teme over there."

The Uchiha snorted in response.

"It's my dream, and one day, I'll make good on my word. I'll never give up-" He punched the air with his fist clenched around the paint brush, splattering some varnish on Sakura. "That's my ninja way!"

Sakura shrieked. "Naruto! Watch it!"

"Oh, s-sorry Sakura-chan." He said, a touch nervously.

Mamoru smiled, thinking back to a time when she first thought to open a tea house. "That's a good dream Naruto-kun. I'll be rooting for you!"

He grinned. "Thanks nee-chan!"

Mamoru chuckled, he was such a cute kid. She liked kids full of spunk. They brought an energy that adults never did.

"What about you Sakura-chan?"

The pink-haired girl's face colored to match her hair. "W-Well," She looked shyly over at Sasuke, and twiddled her thumbs.

Mamoru quickly got the hint. So cute. She grinned teasingly at the girl. "I'm rooting for you too."

Sakura smiled bashfully.

Mamoru turned to the Uchiha, "And you, Sasuke-kun?"

The boy glanced at her before turning back to his painting. "My ambition is to avenge my clan, and kill a man."

"..."

Mamoru supposed not all kids were cute, but maybe this one was a tsundere. As shocking as his statement was, the other two didn't look surprised, only worried.

You might want to rethink your dream Sakura, Mamoru thought, this one might be difficult.

"Well interesting choice there." Mamoru managed with only a brief pause. "Since you're under the tutelage of that infamous sensei of yours, I think you'll be plenty successful."

Sasuke only hnned, something she was beginning to realize was his own personal language. Somehow, she felt like his personality was one she was familiar dealing with. Though she couldn't recall who it was with such a brooding atmosphere.

"Speaking of your sensei," Mamoru glanced at the clock in her cafe, "He's late." She frowned disapprovingly. It was already an hour in. A fine example he was setting for his students.

"He's always late Mamoru-san." Sakura said. "I'm betting his excuse this time will be that he was helping an old lady. What about you Sasuke-kun?"

"Black cat." The boy said easily.

"Well I bet he's lost on the path of life," Naruto clamored. "Again!"

"This sensei of yours is quite the character." Mamoru said. A man like that was hard to read, and his actions incomprehensible. Then a thought occurred to her. "I wonder if your sensei has a dream? Or maybe an ambition?" The children looked intrigued by the thought.

"It probably has something to do with reading all the Icha Icha books." Naruto said. Sakura rolled her eyes and agreed.

Then Naruto perked up, "Hey- hey, nee-chan, what's your dream?"

Mamoru blinked at him in surprise. Then she grinned back at him. "You're standing in it." She gestured widely around the patio. It was still early morning, so the light was soft and serene. The leaves above them rustled with the slight breeze of spring.

"Mugen." She smiled at the children, "The tea house of dreams. A place where everyone can slow down and enjoy the moment with a perfect cup of tea."

"Hehh, that sounds pretty great! What made you want to open a tea house like this?" Naruto asked. "Did you start it all by yourself?"

"No, I had a lot of help. And, well- I was still very young when I first came to Konoha a decade ago, I didn't know anyone. But I wanted a place I could call home. A place with purpose. I got lucky I suppose, and was able to open a small cafe almost immediately. And now," She looked around the place with bright eyes. "And now, it's grown into something I still can't wrap my head around."

"That's amazing, Mamoru-san." Sakura murmured. "I can't imagine starting a business so young. And soon it's your tea house's ten year anniversary! Are you gonna decorate for it?"

"You betcha!" Mamoru winked, "I already have plans to deck the whole place with lights and decor. You'll like it Sakura-chan."

Sasuke had been listening intently. "You must have been in your teens when you came then."

Mamoru calculated in her head. "Yes, I believe I was just a few years older than you all."

Sasuke brushed the chair seat with an even stroke. "Konoha is a shinobi village, so newcomers are heavily vetted. If what you say is true, how was it that a newcomer could start a business almost immediately on arrival in Konoha?" Sasuke asked. His dark eyes shifted towards Mamoru with suspicion. "Shouldn't it have taken you years at least?"

"Hey Sasuke-teme! Didn't you hear her say she got help? And Mamoru-nee-chan must have worked really hard!" Naruto shouted. "Don't disregard her hard work!"

Mamoru stopped brushing. "Yes, with the kindness of the Hokage and the people around me, I was able to get a head start. But, he's right Naruto-kun. Even I think it was weird how quickly I was accepted into the community. It is strange," She paused briefly, not for the first time, wondering how everything came to be earlier in her life. Almost too low to hear, she said, "After all, I am a person without a past."

The children looked at her with confusion. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in thought.

Then, a figure appeared on the tiled roof above them. "Yo! Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the river of time."

Naruto and Sakura jumped to their feet, shouting.

"Sensei! You're late again!"

"Argh I was so close! I knew he was lost somewhere!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Mamoru stepped out of the hall and looked up towards the roof. "Kakashi-san, please use the entrance next time! Those tiles are new!"

"Ah, sorry." He jumped down to land next to her, and smiled disarmingly. "Forgive me, I'll be sure to do that."

Mamoru frowned. "It's fine." She watched as he picked up a bucket of paint and brushes. He proceeded to walk over to the hallway and began painting with a slight hum under his breath.

She raised an eyebrow.

The genin had different reactions.

"Sensei is working!"

"I think he's sick. He's not normally like this!"

"Hn."

"Hey, I'm a hard-working jounin. I take my work very seriously." Kakashi said to his students.

"And yet you were late today." Mamoru replied, moving back to her panel to begin painting again.

"Ah well, the river of time waits for no one after all."

"I don't even know what that means." Mamoru sighed. With the conversation interrupted, Team 7 and Mamoru went back to work.

* * *

Later that evening, Mamoru waved to the genin as they went their separate ways. Another long day of progress for the renovations. They had actually managed to finish painting all the wooden furniture with varnish, and with Kakashi's help, Mamoru was able to finish the hallway panels. An extra pair of hands was pretty useful.

Tomorrow, they would need to trim the tree a bit, and start decorating for the anniversary party that was scheduled the day after. She locked up the tea house as she quickly calculated her to-do list. Turning to head out, she was met with the relaxed form of Hatake Kakashi.

"Oh- Hata- I mean, Kakashi-san, I thought you had left with the children."

"I thought I would apologize for my tardiness this morning." The shinobi said. He scratched the back of his head. "Sorry."

Mamoru raised her brows. "Oh. Uh, you're forgiven I suppose..." That was really unexpected of him. Mamoru had thought he wouldn't care about such things being a ninja and all. Perhaps she had been too hasty with her first impressions yesterday. "...Is what I want to say." A smile formed at her lips. "But words are just words after all, you'll need to prove you're really sorry with action."

Kakashi widened his eyes, but they glinted with amusement. "You're not wrong. How about dinner then? My treat."

Mamoru's widening grin froze and she blinked in surprise. "I- that wasn't what I was implying. I had meant that tomorrow you should actually come on time."

"Hm, well I can't promise that, so how about dinner instead?"

"What? What do you mean you can't promise to come on time? I thought you were sorry!"

"Old habits die hard." Kakashi chuckled. "I'll just have to treat you out to dinner tomorrow as well to apologize."

Mamoru stared at him. Was he for real? Was this man actually serious? She scoffed in disbelief, but easily broke out in laughter, holding the back of her hand to her mouth in an attempt to be more poised. "You're the strangest man I ever met." She chuckled into her hand, her eyes finding his and a smile broke out over her lips. "All right. Let's get dinner then."

* * *

Hn hn hn. Sasuke's so uncute. Hahahaha


	3. Chapter 3

To treesofsilverleaves, MintyWritesFiction, smolstan, darkangelynn5, His Rose bud 125, Yakitori-chan, and scarlettravencrove, thank you for all the reviews everyone! I really appreciate them! I'm writing this story to improve my writing skills, specifically on tone, characterization, flow, tension, and plot. So if you have any criticisms, good or bad, let me know so I can improve and hopefully make this story even better!

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Chapter 3: First Time Stranger

* * *

He couldn't help it. That's what he told himself. That's what he knew the others felt as well.

The Third Hokage had called them to his office for a quick debrief on the progress of their genin teams. At the same time, they'd be given new D-rank missions for their teams. It was to save time, hitting two birds with one stone as they say.

No one could have predicted it would end in a battle royale and several windows being shattered. Not to mention the Hokage's rage. After the chaos, the Hokage had lectured them all while they sat in seiza position. Kakashi was totally unrepentant.

After Asuma and Kurenai gave their team reports to the Hokage, Kakashi gave his own on the progress of Team 7.

"All in all," Kakashi began, "The mission to the Land of Waves was dangerous, but proved to help Team 7 grow in leaps and bounds. Their mentality has matured, and though I believe Naruto and Sasuke's teamwork needs more work, I think the next missions will help develop that. Sakura has also proven to be a great mediator between the two."

"Good, good." The Hokage nodded, smoking his pipe in thought. To think a C-rank mission would end like that. He sighed internally. They would need to vet the missions more carefully from now on. For now, he supposed more D-rank missions would be safe, at least it would give Team 7 a chance to recover.

"Thank you for your reports," he addressed the jounin. "Now, Raido." One of the Hokage's bodyguards stepped up with a pile of D-ranks.

"Since you're all here, I'll distribute your next missions to save time." Raido stepped back next to Genma after he placed the mission scrolls before the Hokage.

"Ehem- ahh," The Hokage picked up a scroll and began reading the summary. "Renovations for Mugen Tea House, requested by a Mamoru-" He stopped. Asuma's lax demeanor froze. Kurenai leaned forward. Kakashi's distant gaze sharpened on the Hokage. Even Genma and Raido glanced towards the Hokage.

Sarutobi Hiruzen furrowed his brows, scanning over the contents quickly. This could be... problematic. Perhaps he should put it away. Ah, but he's already started reading it. What to do. He glanced at the jounin before him. And of course it would be this crowd, he thought. He rolled up the scroll again and smiled, putting on an extra touch of grandfatherly aura. "My mistake, I seem to have read the wrong scroll."

"Wait a minute, old man." Asuma said. "What was that about Mugen Tea House's Mamoru?" Hiruzen frowned at his son's lack of formal address towards him.

Kurenai glanced between the two. "If I may, I would love to take that mission. My students could use the - ah, experience." Truthfully she was sure Kiba would throw a fit at another D-rank. Regardless, she was getting that mission.

"A tea house huh, I'm sure my team is up to the challenge." Kakashi said simply with a disarming smile.

"Your team? They'd probably wreak havoc on the place." Asuma said. "I think this mission calls for some delicacy, Ino's great at it. And Shikamaru's got a strategic mind, I'm sure he could turn that tea house into a tea empire."

"If it's delicacy you need, Hinata has the gentle breeding of a Hyuuga princess. She surely has great knowledge on tea ceremony as well."

"Mah, it's a tea house, not a tea ceremony event." Kakashi said. "Besides, Naruto's energetic disposition would liven up the establishment. Sakura's no slouch either with her enthusiasm."

Genma casually spoke up, "I love tea, I'd totally do it too." Everyone looked at him. He coughed awkwardly.

"Now, listen here-" Asuma began.

"No- you listen-"

"Guys-"

"Enough!" Hiruzen said. The jounin quieted, but they narrowed their eyes at each other. "This scroll will be going back to the mission desk." The jounin opened their mouths to argue. "And it will be assigned to another team."

They closed their mouths, frowning deeply.

"Now," The Hokage said. Pulling out another scroll, this time he read over it before assigning it to Kurenai's team. "Weed picking." She sighed, accepting it from the Hokage with a dutiful bow.

"River cleaning." He handed that one to Asuma, who gave his father a scowl.

"Deliveries." Kakashi took it with a blank expression.

"And since you're so looking forward to a D-rank too, Genma." The Hokage said, he passed a scroll to the jounin. "Lost cat."

Genma groaned. Not that demon cat, that'll take him a while. "Yessir." Raido's shoulders shook with laughter.

"I expect you all to focus on those missions you were just assigned." The Hokage said to the jounin teachers. "You're dismissed."

They all bowed and left, but not before they glared at each other one last time. They were all thinking the same thing: that mission is mine!

Two hours later, the mission desk room's windows shattered. Kunai were thrown at disappearing substitution clones. Papers were scattered and people ducked out of the way with shocked yelps. Blurs too fast to see were clashing.

"Don't you have some weed picking to get to?" Genma called towards the raven-haired shinobi.

"Don't you have a Hokage to protect?" She shouted back, launching a fist full of shuriken at the tokubetsu jounin. Then, Asuma swiped his chakra blades at the man as well. His form disappeared into smoke.

Asuma glanced around warily as he addressed Kurenai. "Hey Kurenai, I hate to break it to you, but I'm not giving you that mission."

"Listen, Asuma, my genin have already finished their mission, we're just here to get another one."

"Oh? What a coincidence, so has mine." He grinned, as the two faced off. Tense and alert.

Suddenly Genma reappeared behind Kurenai and wrapped his arm around her neck. She turned her head towards him and smirked, the illusion disappeared and he cursed. She reappeared a few feet away from Asuma to aim a kick at him. He blocked it easily with an arm, and she disengaged by leaping back. The three of them began to circle each other.

Asuma gripped his chakra blades. Kurenai drew her kunai out of her pouch. Genma held senbon between his fingers. Their eyes shifted from one to the other.

Then a smoke bomb was launched between them all. Their eyes widened in surprise and they covered their eyes and mouths before it exploded.

"What the-"

"Who?"

The jounin coughed.

An airy voice echoed out. "I wouldn't bother, guys." Kakashi's voice said. "Finished my delivery mission an hour ago and already got the scroll."

Asuma coughed. "What the hell do you mean Kakashi?"

"How the hell did your team finish before ours?" Kurenai yelled, waving her hand before her to clear the smoke.

"Even that demon cat took me a while to catch." Genma said, and he thought he was the first one to come back to the mission desk. He even convinced Raido to help him out.

"Ah well," Kakashi was crouched on a window sill, smiling with ease. "Let's just say a solo team is sometimes faster."

Kurenai threw her kunai at him. He moved his head to the side, dodging it easily. "You cheated! That was a mission for your genin team!"

Asuma slumped. He should have thought of that. His mission would have finished a lot faster if he did it himself. Instead, Ino and Shikamaru kept bickering while Chouji just ate. He groaned.

Genma gave up. He threw his hands in the air. The senbon embedded themselves in the ceiling. "Forget it, I know when to call it a loss."

"Hand it over Kakashi," Kurenai said darkly. "Or I'll make you."

Kakashi grinned. "Too late, my team has already accepted the mission. In fact, we're headed there already."

"What did you say-!"

The Kakashi clone poofed.

Kurenai shrieked like hell hath no fury, Asuma sighed, and Genma nonchalantly walked out of the wrecked office.

Elsewhere, the Third Hokage's pencil snapped as a panicky genin gave him a report about the destruction of the mission assignment office.

* * *

Shikamaru gazed at the evening sky, walking down the lane towards the central market with his hands behind his head. Chouji was munching on his barbecue-flavored chips - special edition, he had mentioned, and Ino had been nattering on about something the entire time. The Nara yawned widely. How he wanted to just lie down somewhere and take a nap.

"Shikamaru! Were you even listening to me?"

"Huh?" He said, not particularly paying attention to her.

"I said," she emphasized, "Didn't you think it was so weird how grumpy Asuma-sensei was yesterday? He usually doesn't care how long it takes us to finish those stupid D-ranks. But yesterday, he kept telling us to be faster! He was so rude!" She frowned heavily. "And my new sandals were ruined from all that mud in the river!"

Chouji munched on his chips. "Maybe he really needed to pee or something?"

"Ugh seriously? I can't believe you men! You're all so dirty and gross... unlike Sasuke-kun~" She cupped her hands on her cheeks and practically giggled. Then she muttered indignantly, "Still can't believe Billboard Brow gets to be on his team."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Typical Ino, but she was kind of right about their teacher, he thought. Asuma-sensei had been pretty restless and impatient yesterday. He actually yelled at them to pick up the pace. He rubbed his neck and yawned again. Leave it to a Yamanaka to notice that kind of strange behavior.

"Hey, isn't that Kakashi-sensei over there?" Chouji pointed with a chip towards Ichiraku ramen. "Where's Naruto and the others?"

"Hmm?" Ino looked towards the stall. "Who's that with him?"

Shikamaru's gaze shifted towards the ramen stall as well. "Dunno, some woman I guess." It was rare to see the jounin with a woman out in public. It definitely was eyebrow raising, but otherwise felt troublesome to him. He turned to keep moving, but Ino grabbed him roughly by the collar.

"Hey-!"

"Look!" Ino's eyes widened in shock. "That's-!" Her eyes began to sparkle. "Hot gossip!" She nudged Shikamaru and Chouji. "Do you know who that is? That's Mugen Tea House's owner! Mamoru-san!"

"So what?" Shikamaru asked. He yanked his collar back from Ino's grasp. He didn't know who that was, nor could he see very clearly since they sat with their backs towards them. The ramen stall's cloth dividers obscured her face when she turned towards Kakashi. They couldn't hear what they were saying.

"So what?" She repeated indignantly, "I use to go to her cafe all the time with Sa- Billboard Brow," Ino's mouth quirked a tad wistfully, but her demeanor brightened immediately again at the sight before them. "Anyways, I think Kakashi-sensei must be on a date with Mamoru-san! I never thought about it until now, but what a match made in heaven!"

"Are you sure?" Chouji asked. "Maybe they just met up by chance at Ichiraku and started talking."

"But look-" Ino pointed. "They're laughing! Wait 'til Billboard Brow hears this about her sensei!"

Shikamaru raised a brow. Women were so scary about these things. "I think you're reading too much into this." He said. Ino waved her hand at him to shut up, so she could try to read their lips. She didn't even know how to read lips. He turned away, losing interest in the sight Ino was so intrigued with, only to see something that actually made him double-take.

Was that-?

* * *

The ramen stall was busy, but Kakashi and Mamoru managed to grab a seat at the counter. Teuchi had already taken their orders with a cheerful grin and his daughter helped the other customers with their orders. While the stall was busy, it was also peaceful. Probably because Naruto was nowhere in sight. Kakashi was relieved for it.

The conversation between the two was easy and surface-level, almost careful even. There was a distance between them that could not be seen by the naked eye despite how closely they sat.

Purposeful distance or not, Mamoru was familiar with the easy conversation that came between almost strangers since she regularly chatted with customers and her neighbors. Kakashi himself was well-versed in the art of false facades and disarming demeanors to make his enemies underestimate him. It was like a social battle of wills, who could be more unaffected by the other?

Mamoru didn't know what she was expecting when Kakashi had invited her out to dinner, but ramen was always okay in her book. Delicious, cheap, and simple. Mamoru could always appreciate that. As expected of a ninja.

Once they were served, Mamoru used her chopsticks to carefully pile the noodles onto her spoon. She blew on her noodles before eating. The delicious aroma of ramen and the savory broth filled her senses and she let out a deep sigh of appreciation.

Glancing to her neighbor, she noticed Kakashi was simply staring in her direction. His bowl of ramen remained untouched.

"Kakashi-san?"

He seemed to bring his attention back to the present. "Yes?"

Mamoru looked behind her curiously. Was there something or someone behind her? "You were staring off into space. Aren't you going to eat?"

Kakashi blinked. "Ah, thinking about my sweet students is all," he replied easily. He certainly wasn't going to tell her that he was actually staring at her. Kakashi turned back to his ramen and split his chopsticks apart. He also wasn't going to tell her about the unwanted eyes on their innocent dinner.

At the mention of his students, Mamoru's expression brightened. "You've got wonderful students you know, their enthusiasm and energy is pretty amazing. Naruto-kun is like a ball of optimism and Sakura-chan is so earnest. Even Sasuke-kun has his broody charm." She laughed.

Kakashi smirked to himself. He knew she'd like his students better. "Oh I know, but you should see the chaos and trouble they cause me." He thought about the mission in the Land of Waves. It was really touch and go there. He sighed exaggeratedly for her benefit.

Mamoru chewed her ramen, her shoulders shaking slightly. Then she tilted her head and smiled teasingly at him. "Poor you, Kakashi_-sensei_. It must have been really rough." Her warm, brown eyes seemed to laugh at him. He looked away for a moment.

Kakashi felt unused to the experience. The teasing and the laughter. It made his stomach flop in a way he thought was unfair. It was even worse since she didn't even know. He thought he should at least even the playing field.

"Poor me, indeed Mamoru-san. Won't you make me feel better?"

Mamoru blinked in surprise.

There was a clatter. Behind the counter, Teuchi's blushing daughter had dropped her ladle. She quickly stooped down to get it and went to the other end of the bar to serve another customer.

Mamoru pursed her lips and turned back to her bowl of ramen. She nervously tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Kakashi grinned. Her ears were red. It was such a novel thing for her to be so conscious of him.

"Kakashi-san, I'd appreciate it if you refrained from saying misleading things like that." She frowned at him.

"Misleading? I guess it could be." He said easily. "Sorry." He wasn't sorry.

She could see it though, and she rolled her eyes at him. It was interesting to see her flip between casual and formal with him. Almost like she couldn't decide how to talk to him. Mamoru decided to change the topic.

"So I heard something from your students earlier today." She began, as she looked at her bowl to try and fish out a fish cake with her chopsticks. He took the moment to pull his mask down to eat quickly, before he lifted it again. His mouth was full as he chewed.

She looked back up at him suspiciously, having registered the quick movement in the corner of her eye. "I think I just experienced it right now."

"What?" He said, swallowing his mouthful.

A humorous smile grew on her face. "That you never take off your mask, not even to eat. But if you do, it's really quick." She laughed. "Apparently your students have been trying to sneak a peek any chance they get!" The thought of Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke working together to ambush their jounin sensei, it was impossible not to laugh.

Kakashi chuckled. "It's not often they act like a team, but teasing them like this never fails to make them work together." They shared another laugh at the expense of his poor students.

* * *

"Would you stop moving!" Kurenai hissed.

"Maybe if you stopped blocking my view." Genma replied easily. He elbowed her in the sides, making her step on his foot. Genma winced.

"Don't you guys think we're being a little too obvious?" Asuma said, more to remind them to lower their voices. While it was hardly befitting their occupation to hide in an alley across the street, they had limited options.

"We're already suppressing our chakra as it is, Asuma." Kurenai said, trying to get a better view. "And if we used genjutsu, Kakashi would notice it right away."

"Heck, I'm sure he's already noticed us." Genma said. "We're not exactly trying very hard."

Asuma smiled grimly, his arms folded. "That's because we want him to know we're watching his every move."

Kurenai nodded. "That's right, and I worked so hard for this-" She clenched her hand on Genma's shoulder. He grimaced. "And he thinks he could just cheat his way in? I don't think so."

Genma grabbed her hand and twisted it off his shoulder. "Yeah, well, why don't you go on over there and direct your fury at him instead of me."

Kurenai glared at him.

"Now, now, children. Let's get along, we all have a common adversary here. Let's focus on that shall we?" Asuma said.

They nodded and watched the duo in the ramen stall in silence. But only for a few minutes, because-

"Asuma-sensei, what are you guys doing?"

Shikamaru walked right into their line of sight and raised a brow. Chouji and Ino were behind him, though Ino was busy staring at the ramen stall still.

"Eh well," Asuma began, "We're just talking you know."

"Uh huh..." His student replied. He glanced over his shoulder towards the ramen stall, and back towards them. "About what?"

Kurenai straightened and smiled at him. "Jounin duties. Us jounin were discussing some mission details is all."

Genma shifted his senbon to the other side of his mouth. "Yeah, what she said."

"Are you stalking Kakashi-sensei and that woman he's with, sensei?" Chouji asked. He had finished his chips by then. He wanted them to hurry and get dinner already.

"Kakashi?" Asuma shifted his gaze meaningfully to the ramen stall. "Well whaddya know, Kurenai, Genma. Kakashi's over there having dinner. What a small town, Konoha is, to see our fellow colleague over there... having dinner."

Kurenai rolled her eyes at him. Asuma's students gave him a dead-pan stare. Genma sighed.

Ino opened her mouth to point out the obvious truth when Chouji's stomach growled.

Asuma brightened and clapped his hands. "Well our business is done here, why don't I treat you all to some food?"

Ino and Shikamaru looked like they wanted to say something, but Chouji instantly jumped on board. "All you can eat barbecue! Yeah!" He grabbed his teammates and pushed them to start walking towards the bbq place. "Come on sensei!"

Kurenai and Genma stared at Asuma.

He scratched the back of his head and laughed. "Whoops."

"Yeah, whoops." Genma said. He nodded his head towards the ramen stall. Kakashi and Mamoru were gone.

Kurenai slapped a hand on her forehand. "Damn him. He timed that perfectly."

Genma got up from his crouch and slapped the dust from his clothes. "Well, Asuma-sensei, barbecue. Your treat right?" He walked on after the Ino-Shika-Cho group.

Kurenai folded her arms and gave Asuma a meaningful glare.

"All right, all right. My bad Yuhi." Asuma held his hands up. "We'll get 'em next time."

"Damn straight." She said, then walked off after Genma and the kids. Asuma rubbed his neck and sighed, but a grin touched his mouth as he watched Yuhi walk away with her dark hair swishing back and forth. Her hips always did sway so fine when she was angry.

* * *

Kakashi couldn't help but stare at Mamoru as she chuckled at another stupid joke he made after they left Ichiraku. The distance had closed somehow, probably thanks to the topic of Naruto and them.

The evening sky had darkened into a twilight hue, not quite dark enough to be night, but not bright enough to call it daytime. The lights along the street flickered on one by one as Kakashi walked Mamoru back to her tea house since she needed to do some last minute preparations for the next day's work.

Except for the dimming light of day, the walk to Mugen Tea House was just like yesterday's when they went to meet the tea house owner for the first time.

Yesterday, Naruto and Sasuke speed-walked in competition while Sakura ran after them towards Mugen. Kakashi had strolled after them at a faux leisurely pace towards the tea house with a strange feeling of anticipation and doom. Almost too soon, he felt, they had reached Mugen.

The brats made a bunch of noise while he took a deep breath, absentmindedly telling them to relax. Telling himself to relax, since it was time to meet the owner of Mugen Tea House.

He swallowed uncomfortably, before sliding the entrance door open, blinking his eye to adjust to the dim lighting, and there he saw her- sitting at the bar, Mamoru.

Her dark hair was loose and reached below mid-back. Her flowered kimono hugged her body conservatively and neat. But it was her expression, open and curious, that hurt him the most. It was the look someone gave to a stranger they had never met before.

Kakashi had willed himself to begin that first introduction, correctly this time. "Hel-"

Of course, it never happened. That damn Naruto.

He was off-kilter the rest of the day, watching her laugh with his students from afar, pretending to read. What snapped him out of it was that shatter of glass that startled her into relapsing. Her pale face obscured by her now long hair. Her eyes, wide and frightened, seeing phantoms of a memory she couldn't understand. Fingers, scarred but uncalloused, bleeding again.

Not for the first time, he felt powerless. He promised himself he wouldn't make the same mistakes anymore when he stood before the memorial stone the next day.

Distantly, Kakashi heard Mamoru thank him for walking her back to the tea house. She stood at the entrance, smiling up at him. Twilight had faded into night, but the lanterns around them illuminated the space. The leaves of the Mugen tree rustled with the wind and he could hear the faint sound of wind chimes greeting the air.

And now- now Kakashi looked into Mamoru's warm, brown eyes, free of pain and grief, and he wondered not for the first time if he was making a huge mistake.

* * *

A/N: I changed some parts in the last two chapters regarding the time/season to match with future events in the story. Originally set in the fall, I moved the time frame up to spring. Since we all know what happens in summer hehehe~


	4. Chapter 4

Here's a rather illuminating chapter! Hope you like it! Thank you to LuciiChaan, Yakitori-Chan, treesofsilverleaves, smolstan, coolalexia12, His Rose bud 125, and MintyWritesFiction for your reviews! It has definitely helped me to push out chapter after chapter even when I'm feeling unmotivated haha. Dedicating this chapter to you folks!

* * *

Chapter 4: The First Memory

* * *

Mamoru opened her eyes in a daze. The soft rustle of the Mugen tree leaves reached her ears and reminded her where she was, which was seated at her tea house patio underneath the tree and the dark night sky. The spring breeze shifted, making her shiver. Her fingers wrapped around her warm cup of jasmine tea, bringing her back into focus. She watched the reflection of the moon in her cup, partially obscured by the Mugen tree leaves, and recounted how she found her way back to the tea house at four in the morning.

After Kakashi had walked her back to the tea house and bid her goodnight, Mamoru had taken an hour to prepare for tomorrow's work. Once she was done, she walked home to her apartment a few blocks away. Then she went to bed, thoughts of her dinner with Kakashi on her mind, and after a long day of renovations, found sleep easily.

But the sleep did not stay easy for Mamoru, nor peaceful.

The wind shifted again, and Mamoru watched the moon's reflection become clearer as the leaves swayed overhead.

Mamoru's thoughts wandered again and she saw images of a dark figure looming over her. Angry voices. The cold, unforgiving metal chair. The smell of stale blood. The sharp sting of pain on her face. She knew it was no nightmare. No dream. She felt those things. She felt that fear like she felt the warmth of her cup of tea.

The flowery aroma of the tea soothed her nerves as she inhaled it deeply, as if it could rid her of that smell, that memory of blood. Yes, it was a memory. So real, and so very fresh on her mind. She saw every detail, felt every bit of terror it brought her because she replayed it over and over in her head despite the frightening images it meant. If Mamoru had any artistic talent, she could easily draw every scene of that memory on command.

The grimy stone floor. The cell-like structure of her dark surroundings. The rope that bound her wrists to that painfully stiff chair, as if she had been sitting there for days.

She could draw these things, sure, but not that dark figure in her memory. Nor his low, seething voice. Demanding her, "You will tell us what you know."

Under her breath, she whispered her line from memory, "I can't. I don't know-"

Another sharp sting of pain. The barely registered sound of his palm slapping her face. The desperate cry, "I can't- I can't remember-"

Because even in this memory, she still couldn't remember anything. Even when her life was clearly in danger, she couldn't recall a thing, because this- this terrifying scene was her very first memory as Mamoru of Mugen Tea House. This was the life she woke up to, dazed and confused. Then-

The sound of heavy boots approaching her. The sudden pain of her hair being tugged in a firm grasp, forcing her to look up at the shadowed face of this man with a voice she could never forget.

"You will remember. I will not repeat myself again. Tell me wh-"

Suddenly an explosion of splinters. Dim light briefly shone through the entrance, before a shadow of another person held there in the wooden frame for a fleeting moment.

Voices. Angry. Yelling, "You bastard-!"

Everything happened so quickly after that. A surge of adrenaline made her fight back in that moment, and she could remember lunging forward to clamp her teeth on his arm in desperation. With a grunt, he jerked back to strike her with his fist.

The sound of sharp metal - kunai, her mind supplied - flew through the air, embedding itself on the man's back. It didn't stop him from dealing a blow to her temple.

Then poof- a cloud of smoke. More voices, yelling curses at the man's escape.

"Follow him!"

"Mamoru-san!"

"Thank god we got here in time!"

"Mamoru!"

"Are you all right, Mamoru?"

Everything was a blur then. The blow to her head and the fatigue of who knows how long she'd been in that cell made her vision blacken. Her memory faded with her loss of consciousness, but not before she heard herself mutter faintly, "Am I Mamoru?"

And her first memory ended there. But it had been a while since she dreamed this memory. Psychologically, she thought perhaps she was finally moving on. That, maybe, she had finally let go of a past she could not remember. Mamoru had convinced herself that the life she led now was all that mattered. Mugen Tea House. The tea house of dreams. It was her anchor to this life in Konoha. Ten years of making roots in this village. She was proud of how far she had come since then.

But that memory, that horrifying first memory, was her anchor to her past life. It was her albatross, her psychological burden. And how tempting it was to wallow in that abyss of uncertainty and fear.

Faint light filtered through the leaves of the Mugen tree, and Mamoru brought her tea cup to her lips. She realized with a soft sigh that the tea had long gone cold as she sat lost in a daze, reliving her first memory over and over again. How many times has she done this so far? Too many times to count. Rena-chan always got so angry when she found her nearly frozen like this.

Mamoru lifted her gaze to the canopy of leaves and closed her eyes. She imagined the soft light of dawn washing over her skin as if it could cleanse her of this burden.

A new dawn was a new day, and a new day was a new memory to make. One day at a time.

Mamoru stood from her seat and stretched her stiff joints with a satisfying yawn. She exhaled deeply, and took a step forward. Then another.

One step at a time, she reminded herself, for that is how a life is forged.

Mamoru walked into the cafe area of her tea house, shifting the blue fabric that divided the patio hall and the cafe aside with a gentle hand. It was still too early for the genin to arrive, and Mamoru had a strong desire for another cup of tea. She walked behind her bar to pull down a familiar red clay teapot from its place on the shelf and set about her daily routine.

Placing the teapot on a bamboo tea tray she pulled from under the bar, she began to heat up the water to a nice temperature for green tea. As a rule of thumb, red clay teapots should only brew the type of tea they are first used with to avoid destroying the integrity of the taste of tea itself. This is because the clay will absorb the flavor of the tea, and mixing other teas like black and green tea would ruin the teapot as well.

For Mamoru, the teapot she used in her daily ritual was specifically for green tea. It was her favorite teapot since it was a gift. The teapot was masterfully engraved with camellia flowers and leaves that were lightly painted with flecks of gold. It was a beautiful thing that could easily fit in the palm of her hand. Moreover, she simply loved the delicate neck of the spout and the easy grip of the handle. Functional and beautiful. It was a style she liked to emulate when she could.

As the water heated, Mamoru reached over the shelves to pull down her favorite green tea. The loose tea leaves were rolled into little pearls that gave the tea its name: jasmine pearl tea. She had fallen in love with the tea when a merchant from the Land of Tea came by with a sample.

The rich aroma of the jasmine flower was infused with every leaf, and the that was something that could not be taken for granted. Good jasmine tea was difficult to craft. Ten thousand jasmine flowers needed to be picked and left to mix with quality tea leaves overnight so that the fragrance would infuse with the leaves. Then the blossoms would need to be removed by hand so that all that was left was the jasmine scented tea. Not to mention that the tea leaves themselves needed to be handpicked as well. It took good eyes, and a legion of efficient pickers to make even a pound of quality tea.

When the water was ready, Mamoru gently poured some of it over the teapot to wash and wet it. Then she poured some inside the pot to warm the clay. She poured the water back out and put a few pearls of tea inside. Pouring a touch of water in, she let the hot water open the leaves to make it easier for the flavor to come out. Once the leaves opened, she poured the water out again, leaving the slightly open tea leaves in the teapot. Finally, she poured the hot water into the teapot again and let the tea brew.

About two minutes later, the tea was ready. Mamoru poured the tea out into a teacup and took her first morning cup of tea. The cold tea from earlier didn't count. She sighed with deep satisfaction. Tea really was the best after all.

As she took another sip of tea, she heard a knock at the entrance window. A figure leaned forward, cupping his hand over his eyes to look inside. When he saw Mamoru look his way, he smiled widely and waved.

A muffled voice called out, "Mamoru-san, it's me! Sanjuro!"

Mamoru blinked in surprise. She placed her cup down and walked over to unlock the entrance. Peeking outside, she greeted him. "Sanjuro-san, good morning. I'm... surprised to see you here…" She frowned, thinking of the last time she heard from him.

He looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry. You must think I'm such a jerk. I really am sorry, I didn't mean to stand you up like that a couple nights ago. Something came up, and I sent a message to you so we could reschedule, but I recently found out the message never came to you. So I came to apologize in person!" He bowed deeply. "Please forgive me!"

"Oh-" Mamoru said, well she supposed it wasn't his fault then. Especially since he looked really guilty. "Well- um, it's all right. I understand." It still irked her, but she couldn't blame him. "Would you like to come inside?" She wasn't sure how to go about this. She wasn't necessarily interested in another date, but he was an acquaintance and she didn't want to be rude either.

"Thank you! Actually, I was hoping we could take a walk." He beamed at her brightly. "The reason I wanted to reschedule was because of business with this tea merchant. I'm not really in the business since I'm more about silk, but I thought you might be, so I- well, why don't we take a walk and I can tell you all about it?"

Mamoru hesitated. "I'm actually expecting some genin later today to come by to help with my renovations. If it won't take that long, I don't mind hearing what you have to say Sanjuro-san."

"Great! It won't take long, I just think it would be such a shame to talk business inside when it's so beautiful outside today!" He held out his arm and grinned at her. "Shall we?"

She sighed, but smiled. There was a reason why she agreed to a date with Sanjuro. He wouldn't take no for an answer, and it wasn't like he was a bad person. "All right, we shall." She said as she locked up the shop. She took his arm and they walked down the mainstreet together.

* * *

Naruto skid to a halt before the Mugen Tea House entrance. A wide grin spread across his face and he crowed, "Did you see that Sakura-chan, I won again! Eat that Sasuke-teme!"

Sakura and Sasuke walked up behind him at a more languid pace. "Sasuke-kun wasn't even competing with you Naruto."

"Only because he was too afraid," Naruto mocked.

"As if." Sasuke said as he reached for the entrance, only to discover it was locked. "It's not open."

"That can't be right, we're just on time." Sakura said, she looked up at the sky for a moment, then went over to the window to peer in. It was dark. No one was inside. She called through her hands. "Mamoru-san? Are you in there?"

"Mamoru nee-channn!" Naruto called loudly. "We're heerreee!"

No response. The genin looked at each other.

"I don't think she's here yet." Naruto said.

"What should we do?" Sakura asked, "Sensei won't be here for hours, and we can't just sit around doing nothing. Not to mention it's kinda….weird right? Something feels wrong."

Naruto frowned. "Well, maybe she just overslept? That can happen." He tried the entrance again. Maybe teme just sucked at opening doors.

"It's locked idiot." Sasuke shook his head. "She doesn't seem like the type of person to forget or be late to an appointment anyways. We should try asking around."

The genin looked around the stores on the mainstreet. Several shop owners were setting up their displays and putting out their signs. Some were sweeping the entrance of their stores, while others were busy watering the plants lining their shops.

Sakura walked over to one of the nearby groceries. "Excuse me, have you seen Mamoru-san today, the owner of the Mugen Tea House?"

The man shook his head. "No, I just barely came, but try asking the dango stand over there. The owner Yukari-san is usually early, and she's friends with Mamoru-san." He pointed to a small dango stand a few yards away. A woman with light brown hair was quietly watering her plants.

The genin approached and Naruto called out, "Excuse me, have you seen Mamoru nee-chan today?"

The woman turned with a curious expression. An early morning customer with purple hair, seated at one of the outdoor benches, turned as well with a dango stuffed in her mouth. She watched the interaction with vague interest.

"Good morning, if you're talking about Mamoru-chan from Mugen, then yes. I saw her just a little while ago."

"Where did she go?" Sasuke asked.

"We're supposed to help her with her renovations, but she's not at her tea house." Sakura added politely.

Understanding dawned on the dango stall owner. "Ohh, you're the genin she hired." Then she pointed down the mainstreet. "I saw her walking with this man she met a little while ago, otherwise I would have called out to her. I didn't want to interrupt anything though."

"Wait, is that man and Mamoru, like this?" Naruto held up his pinky finger.

Yukari chuckled behind her hand. "Well, a date had been arranged. I haven't heard yet how it went though."

"Poor Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed. "Who knew he had competition!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "That doesn't matter. Who was that man? Do you know how long ago they left?"

Yukari frowned. "His name is Sanjuro, that's what we know him by. He's a silk merchant from out of town that comes by every once in a while. It was maybe thirty minutes ago that they left. I would have expected her to be back by now, Mamoru-chan wouldn't forget about her renovations."

"All right. Let's go." Sasuke said to the genin.

"Thank you!" Sakura said.

"Yeah thanks!" Naruto added.

The genin took off down the mainstreet. Yukari watched them disappear around the corner with a frown.

The purple-haired customer furrowed her brows, taking another bite of her dango. "Sanjuro, you said?" She stood and threw her dango sticks into the trash bin.

Yukari turned to her frequent customer. "Yes. I'm starting to get a little worried now. It's probably nothing though, right Anko-san?"

Anko hummed thoughtfully. "We'll see. Thanks for the dango, I'll be taking off now."

"Thanks for stopping by!"

Anko shunshinned away, intent on informing interested parties about what she had just heard. She took off towards the memorial stone, where she knew a certain copy-nin was located at this time of day.

* * *

Well what do you think? Whose POVs did you enjoy seeing the most? Things are indeed getting curious. Let me know what you liked and what you want to see more of!~ ^^


	5. Chapter 5

Happy Saturday! Here's another chapter from me to you! I just finished a rather stressful week and couldn't get this out on time the last weekend. But now that my hackathon is over, I got to finish this chapter. I hope you enjoy it, I certainly did!

* * *

Ch 5: Sarutobi Asuma

* * *

Anko appeared a few yards away from Kakashi where he stood before the memorial stone. Her abrupt appearance brought him back from his deep thoughts.

"Hey!" Anko called. "Thought I should tell you that Mamoru has wandered off. Your genin are looking for her now."

Kakashi furrowed his brows. That couldn't be right. Mamoru should be working with the brats right now. And according to her usual schedule, she should be at her tea house. However, it wasn't uncommon for her to wander from her schedule. Something might have come up, like a friend asking for help. Either way, she was in the village so there wasn't much trouble that could happen. But just in case...

"Tell me more," he said, as he made the hand signals to summon his ninken. With several puffs of smoke, Pakkun, Urushi, and Bisuke appeared.

"Hey, what's up Kakashi?"

"Need something delivered?"

"Perfect timing, I'm hungry Kakashi!"

"Not now Bisuke," Kakashi said. "I need you guys to track someone."

"You should send them off now," Anko said, nodding to his ninken. "She's been gone thirty minutes and counting. Yukari from the dango stall said she saw her with this silk merchant named Sanjuro."

"That name sounds familiar." Kakashi said as he knelt down to give the ninken a piece of cloth with Mamoru's scent on it. Don't ask him how he got it. He was glad he had it now. "I need you guys to find Mamoru, keep to the shadows and don't make yourself known. If she's in trouble, report back immediately. Urushi, I need you to find Asuma and report the news to him, then join the others."

The ninken sniffed the handkerchief.

"That woman again?" Pakkun said, "I know the scent." He made a disgruntled face, his face wrinkling even more than usual. "Tracking her can be troublesome sometimes." The other dogs nodded and whimpered.

"I know, but I'm counting on you guys. Now go."

"Roger!"

The ninken took off.

"Anko, do you know anything else?"

She shook her head. "Seems she had a date with this Sanjuro fellow recently. That's all."

Kakashi remembered now. "Ah, I'm surprised he showed up again since Asuma handled that one. Asuma would know about that man then."

"Handled?" Anko raised a suspicious brow. "Sounds a bit ominous. And why exactly would you be surprised this Sanjuro showed up again?" She folded her arms. "I mean it sounds like Mamoru was dating this guy."

Kakashi scratched his jaw. "Let's just say we have high expectations for who Mamoru interacts with."

Anko narrowed her eyes. "Really? And what happens to the people, or rather the men I suspect, that don't meet your high expectations?"

Kakashi smiled pleasantly. "Simple. We give them a reason to disappear."

Anko sighed heavily. She really felt for the tea owner. "Poor Mamoru, if only she knew. Now I know why Kurenai's been so frustrated with you and Asuma. She's always been trying to set Mamoru up with people, but you guys just keep getting in her way."

Kakashi shrugged. "We're just keeping her safe."

Anko rolled her eyes. "Yeah sure, safe- and a spinster. Whatever, you guys are handling it now so I don't care."

"Great, thanks Anko. See you later."

She didn't leave. Instead she raised a brow and folded her arms again, waiting. Her foot tapped impatiently.

Kakashi sighed. He reached into his pocket and tossed her a small pouch of ryo. She caught it deftly and grinned. "Pleasure doing business." Then she disappeared without further notice.

Kakashi sighed, he'd make Asuma pick up the tab next time. Having jounins keep an eye on Mamoru all this time was getting really expensive.

* * *

Mamoru was trying, she really was, but sometimes it pained her to have to be so polite all the time. Sanjuro had been talking for ages about his business and how his past week had been going. They hadn't even discussed the business deal he had mentioned earlier. If he were any other person, Mamoru might have considered abruptly excusing herself, but he was a business partner, and she'd learned from the past that it paid to be accommodating to customers and partners.

For now, she'd try to remind him about what she had agreed to discuss with him on their walk. Already they had strayed too far from the main street, heading towards the parks and quiet forested areas. Even if she walked back quickly, she'd be late for the genin. She really hated being late.

"Sanjuro-san," Mamoru began gently, "What did you want to discuss earlier? Something about a business deal regarding tea?"

The man stopped waving his arms around excitedly in his talk about silkworms and seemed to remember why he'd asked her to come for a walk. "Oh, my apologies Mamoru-san, I just get so excited when the topic of silk comes up. Anyways, I met this person who has a collection of rare white teas and delectable pu-erh samples. I thought it might peak your interest since you mentioned wanting to expand your inventory."

It did spark her interest. She had forgotten mentioning that to Sanjuro. Her collection of white and pu-erh tea was lacking at the moment and she wanted to expand. A growing base of customers were becoming fans of the strong taste of pu-erh, while others were seeking the rich antioxidant benefits of white tea.

"It certainly has peaked my interest. Who is this person you met? Is he a tea merchant?"

Sanjuro brightened, looking almost relieved. "Yes! He is, he's actually in town as well if you'd like to meet him. He's not too far from here, he tends to like his peace and quiet at this time of day. So he spends a lot of time near the outskirts of town when he's not doing business."

Mamoru looked up at the sky for a moment, the day had gotten a bit brighter. She was surely late now. "Perhaps it can wait, I need to get back to my tea house. The genin must be waiting for me to open shop."

"But he's not too far from us now," Sanjuro insisted. "What's a few more minutes? I could introduce you, and the both of you can reschedule a meeting sometime later."

Mamoru grew impatient. She really needed to put her foot down with this man. "I'm sorry Sanjuro, but it is in bad taste as a business owner to keep the people I hire waiting. I need to set an example."

Sanjuro's smile seemed to grow forced. "This could be a lucrative business deal Mamoru-san. I'm just trying to help you out a bit, think of it as an apology for missing our date."

Mamoru frowned. It seemed like a bullet dodged to her now. Why did she ever say yes to him before? His insistent attitude was wearing on her. There were so many other people she would rather date than him. Briefly, the image of a masked ninja entered her mind before she quickly waved it away. Stop it Mamoru, she thought, you barely met him two days ago.

"I appreciate the sentiment Sanjuro-san, but I will be leaving now." She stopped walking and bowed briefly before she turned to leave.

"Wait-!"

Mamoru was jerked back by her wrist. Sanjuro gripped it tightly, his palms sweaty. "I-I-"

"Let me go, Sanjuro-san." Mamoru said with a flat tone. "I think you know this is very inappropriate."

"I just wanted to say-" His voice grew high-pitched, almost nervous. Yet still the forced smile remained on his face. "Mamoru-san, I just-"

Mamoru tried to pull her wrist back. "Listen to me, I have been patient with you. But I won't any longer. So let me go right now, or I will call someone for help."

His smile seemed to wobble. "Help? You, call for help?" His grip on her wrist tightened almost painfully. Mamoru winced. Laughter bubbled from his throat and he ran a hand through his brown hair, disheveling it from its prim and proper comb.

Something was wrong, Mamoru felt. If she hadn't felt it earlier, she felt it deeply now. She looked around for anyone, but this early in the day, no one came to this area of the village. It was mostly forests and small meadows. Dirt pathways led further into the forested areas and closer to the village outskirts. The morning sun cast long shadows from the trees. They were actually past the Uchiha compound now, which was far from the village center. How had she let this happen? Why had she been so careless?

"You're going to call for help?" Sanjuro repeated. He buckled over and roared in laughter. His movement made her stumble closer to him and he caught her other wrist tightly, trapping her. He grinned down at her, his eyes becoming mere slits.

"So the Yasei no Tsubaki wants to call for help?" He laughed again, shaking his head. "How cruel time can be-" He snorted. "Look how weak you've become."

"Wh- what the hell are you talking about? Let me go Sanjuro!" The look in his eyes made a chill run down her spine. This couldn't be Sanjuro, the Sanjuro she knew wasn't like this. He was meek and excitable. This was- this wasn't him. "Who are you? You're not Sanjuro-"

"Ah Sanjuro- what a weak-willed man." His voice changed, growing a bit smoother, deeper. His form seemed to shimmer. But then- shink! Something sharp whizzed past them.

Mamoru gasped. Sanjuro jumped back, pulling her towards him, pressing her back against his form. He deftly pulled something sharp from his clothes and held it to her throat. Mamoru stilled, her breathing growing short and fast.

"Be more careful Naruto! You almost hit Mamoru-san!"

"All right- all right- I got it! Mamoru nee-chan are you all right?"

"Sakura, circle round the other side."

"You got it Sasuke-kun!"

Mamoru couldn't believe her eyes. Three colorful genin had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Where had they come from?

"Hey! You big creep, let Mamoru nee-chan go!"

The man, whoever he was, clicked his tongue. "Guess I shouldn't have played around so long with you. Now look. We have a couple of children playing ninja." He smirked, pressing his kunai firmly against her. Mamoru pulled back into his chest. She felt a bead of blood drip down her neck. "Go on then. Call for help, Yasei no Tsubaki. You will need it."

Mamoru gritted her teeth. Panic was beginning to color her mind. She couldn't understand who this person was or why he wanted to hurt her. However, Mamoru did know this. She refused to let children come in harms way for her.

"Get away- don't come near!" She shouted to them. Her hands gripped the man's arms. He didn't budge even as she pressed her nails into them. He only laughed at her efforts.

"What are you talking about Mamoru-nee? We're here to help you!"

"It's dangerous!" She shouted.

The genin had circled them now. Sakura to their backs. Naruto and Sasuke a few paces away, edging closer.

"Careful," The man said, both to the genin and to the struggling Mamoru, tightening his hold on her. "My hand might slip." He glanced towards Sakura, who stopped in her tracks.

Naruto and Sasuke stopped moving. Mamoru stilled.

"What do you want with her?" Sasuke asked. "She's just a civilian."

"Yeah! Mamoru-nee didn't do anything to you!"

"We might let you go if you release her," Sakura tried.

The man sighed. "I don't have time to play with you brats. We've got a schedule to keep." In a quick movement, he threw the kunai towards Naruto, but the figure of Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Now!" Sasuke shouted as he leaped forward. The earth under Mamoru began to rumble, and a hand reached out from the ground to grab the enemy shinobi's ankle to prevent him from escaping. Naruto's grinning face emerged as he wrapped his arms around the man's leg. "We've got you!"

Sakura dashed forward to swipe at the man's exposed back with her kunai. Sasuke appeared in front of Mamoru, his eyes turning red as he activated his sharingan. With a series of deft strikes, he aimed for the man's arms and sides to make him release her.

The man coughed in pain, his hold on Mamoru growing slack. "You got me-" He cried loudly, then grinned, "Or not." The man disappeared in a cloud of smoke, replaced with the form of a log. He appeared behind Sakura and swung his leg at her side, kicking her into a tree. Her body slammed against it and she fell to the ground with sharp gasp.

"No!" Mamoru screamed.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, he formed a seal and three shadow clones appeared to flank him as he rushed the man in anger.

Sasuke pulled at Mamoru, urging her to get up. "You need to run for help." Her legs refused to respond as she watched Naruto fight the man. The sound of kunai against kunai resounded through the air. "Get up, Mamoru-san!"

How did this happen? Mamoru forced herself to stand, though her legs trembled. "I-I can't run. Naruto needs help! And Sakura-"

"You can't do anything here, you're better off running to get help."

"But you're just children-!"

Sasuke grabbed her by the arm, and she tore her gaze away from Naruto and the man. The sight of his crimson eyes, almost familiar, glared at her as he spoke, "No, we're shinobi. Now get going!"

He pushed her away, towards the path back to the village. Then he rushed to help Naruto as one of his clones were disbursed in smoke.

Mamoru hesitated, watching the man seem to toy with the genin. Sakura was getting to her feet, wobbly and injured. She caught Mamoru's gaze and pointed towards the village center, "-Go!"

Another one of Naruto's clones popped.

Mamoru's legs took her unsteadily towards the path. What was she doing? She was leaving them! Every bone in her body resisted, she wanted to turn back. She wanted to help them- but how? Sakura had joined the fray again. Mamoru tore her gaze from the fight. She clenched her fists and pulled up her kimono. The only thing she could do was run for help, as much as she hated it. She had never felt so weak.

As she ran away, Mamoru heard a loud whistle and the man laughing, "You can run Tsubaki, but we'll always find you!"

* * *

"What did you say?" Sarutobi Asuma asked. He stared down at Urushi. His morning pork bun forgotten on the table. "That's impossible."

Kurenai blinked at him curiously. "What's impossible?"

The ninken yipped. "Didn't you hear me? I said some silk merchant named Sanjuro has whisked that Mamoru woman off."

"How long has it been since?"

The dog thought about it, "Must be close to an hour now. Kakashi told me to tell you, but I have to go now, I need to join the others in tracking her."

"Wait! I'm coming too." Asuma stood, carelessly throwing ryo down on the table without counting. Urushi yipped and made off towards the direction the other ninken went.

"What's happening Asuma?" Kurenai got up as well and followed his sprint, taking the rooftops to be quicker in their pursuit. They followed Urushi into the forests.

"Sanjuro, the silk merchant." Asuma said, "He's supposed to be in the Land of Water right now."

Kurenai glanced at him, "And how do you know that?"

Asuma looked embarrassed. "Uh, the point is whoever is calling himself Sanjuro must be an imposter. An imposter that's with Mamoru right now."

Kurenai furrowed her brows. "That's not good."

Asuma nodded. They doubled their pace.

* * *

Kakashi paced before the memorial stone, tension visible on his folded arms. Mamoru has always kept to her routine. She was always predictable. Tea in the morning, lunch break in the afternoon, more tea, then dinner at night, sometimes with a friend. Sometimes she met with people for business, or took the day off to relax.

Of course, sometimes she met other friends Kakashi and Asuma didn't particularly like, but they were hardly dangerous. Just annoying.

This time was like any other, just another infatuated man. Kakashi and Asuma always dealt with it the same way. It was nothing new. Kakashi stopped before the stone and stared at it hard. She was in the village. As long as she was in the village she would be fine. She was protected. He stared down at the names he memorized and closed his eyes. He remembered their faces and the lingering regret never went away.

As always, he couldn't wait for his ninken's report. Kakashi took off.

* * *

Mamoru stopped for a moment to catch her breath. She leaned against a tree and wiped the sweat from her brow. Her kimono was dusty and her hair disheveled, but she didn't care. How long had she been running for? Why did it feel as though she had been running for hours? It shouldn't be taking this long to get back to the village. The forested path through the village outskirts seemed to tunnel long and spin in her head like an illusion. She fell to her knees.

"Someone, help them-" Her voice croaked.

There was a rustle from above. Mamoru's eyes snapped towards it. Three shinobi with headbands unfamiliar to her appeared with grins on their face. Enemy shinobi.

"She looks tired enough." A slender man crouching on the branch said.

"Can't we watch her run some more? I was kinda enjoying it." The smallest one grinned down at her.

"No, we better get going. We've spent too long here. Those leaf ninja could be coming soon."

The biggest one landed before Mamoru. "Easy does it and we won't hurt you." The other two landed as well.

"Yet." One of them called out. They snickered.

Mamoru didn't even think as she launched herself at him. Fight or flight, all the fear and frustration that was built up within her was released. She bit into his arm. But the man only grunted and knocked her away with his other arm. Mamoru fell to the floor. Her temple throbbing.

"Looks like we should have made her run more. She's still got the energy to fight."

The small one snickered. "You're losing your touch to let this civilian bite you like that." The big man looked angry and seconds away from hitting her again.

"That's not just some civilian, idiot," the slender man said. "Enough, grab her and let's go."

Mamoru stumbled to her feet and backed away from them. "Who are you?" Mamoru hissed. "What do you want with me?"

"If you really want to know, we've got a friend who's been itching to see you."

"I don't know anyone outside the village." Mamoru whispered. She looked for a way to escape, but the men flanked her. The big one stood in the middle, holding his forearm where she bit him.

"I told you, easy does it and we won't hurt you. But it looks like it's not going to be like that."

The man reached out towards her. Mamoru froze. Time seemed to slow for Mamoru. The image of a similar hand reaching towards her flashed through her mind. What followed in her memory was pain, but that wasn't what happened this time.

A blur of white hurtled itself at the enemy ninja's hand. Then darted away into the trees. The man shouted in pain. "It bit me!"

"What the hell was that?"

"It's fast!"

Another blur of white pounced on one of the men's face. He yelled. Then just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared into the tree leaves, leaving a face full of red scratches. "Fuck-! I think there's more than one!"

The shinobi moved to have their backs against one another. The sound of screeching echoed from the trees. "I can't see them, they're too fast!"

Mamoru couldn't either, all she knew was that for a moment they weren't paying attention to her anymore. She tried to stumble away. A hand reached out and grasped her hair. Mamoru cried in pain.

"You're not going anywhere-" The biggest one snarled. "This is your doing!"

"Get going! We'll be behind you." The slender man called. "Whatever it is, we'll handle it!"

The man punched Mamoru in the stomach. She doubled over, the wind knocked out of her lungs. The screeching grew louder. Angry. Mamoru's vision blurred. The man hurled her over his shoulder and took off, keeping low and away from the tree branches. The other two followed, dodging stones hurled at them from the canopy above. The shrill chatter and screeching seemed to deafen and surround them, growing louder and louder, until abruptly, it stopped.

Mamoru's kidnappers glanced around warily. Mamoru struggled to regain her breath, her vision still fuzzy.

The small one stepped closer to them, "Where did they-"

Then the ground before them burst with two deep fractures in the dirt. Dust clouded the air. Mamoru's kidnappers jumped back with her in tow. Two blades appeared where the dust settled, deeply embedded in the ground.

"My bad." A low voice called out. Someone Mamoru couldn't see landed before them. She could feel the enemy nin's hand on her back tense. Mamoru tried to lift her gaze to the newcomer. The light reflected off the leaf hitai-ate reassuringly. A man Mamoru recognized in passing stood before them in an easy manner that belied his enraged expression. "Seems I missed."

The ninja flinched. "We're out of our league." The slender shinobi said. "That's Sarutobi Asuma, we need to retreat." The ninja backed away. Mamoru struggled to break away from the man holding her on his shoulder. Her fists beat weakly at his side. Exhaustion seemed to hit her all at once. She could feel herself losing consciousness.

"The kids..." She tried to tell him. Help them.

The kidnapper jostled her as he turned to flee, only to stop abruptly.

Before them stood a woman Mamoru had often seen with the leaf ninja behind them. Unlike Asuma, her expression was smoothed of all emotion.

"Release her." She said. "You're already caught in my trap."

Behind them, Asuma picked up his chakra blades. They instantly flashed blue, the sound of cutting wind filled the air.

The last thing Mamoru heard as she finally succumbed to darkness was the voice of Sarutobi Asuma.

"You've made a deep mistake, messing with my family."

* * *

A/N: Yasei no Tsubaki translates to Wild Camellia, and in case you didn't know, the plant that all traditional teas come from is called camellia sinensis.

What did you think? Super illuminating this one. I've got huge plans for the future!

Thank you to thatonegirlwhoyoudontknow, MintyWritesFiction, His Rose bud 125, and darkangelynn5 for your reviews!~

It's good to know which POVs you enjoy, and I'll try to incorporate them as much as I can!

PS: I love that Sakura is shipping Kakashi and Mamoru too ahahaha.


	6. Chapter 6

Dearest readers, you have no idea how much I appreciate the reviews. It's like a kick in the pants to get going and start typing! Things have been pretty busy with me what with job interviewing and well, heartbreak, but life is life! Hope you enjoy this chapter, and thank you to BlackDove WhiteDove, treesofsilverleaves, Yakitori-chan, His Rose bud 125, MintyWritesFiction, and Ulle, for your comments! It helps to know what stands out with what I write. Love you lot. =)

* * *

Ch 6: In Memory

* * *

Images flashed through his mind like a picture movie, but backwards.

Kurenai Yuhi, standing on the forested path. Sarutobi Asuma, furious beyond measure. Three grinning enemy-nin. Running, running, running. Team 7 fighting. The silk merchant imposter, laughing and taunting. Walking and talking through the village. The silk merchant leaning against the window.

Pause to study.

Then rewinding further, faster.

A moon in a teacup. Kakashi Hatake. Team 7 again. Introductions.

Yamanaka Inoichi walked between the groves of neat tea bushes, his fingers brushing against the silky, green leaves. The tea bushes were well-kept and pruned to perfection, just reaching up to his thighs. As his fingers grazed the leaves, he closed his eyes and saw images of Konoha and a quaint cafe. People sitting and chatting over cups of tea. A teapot pouring steaming liquid into a porcelain cup.

He opened his eyes and walked a little further. The grove went on for miles as far as Inoichi could see, but he had no interest in the tea bushes now. Instead, Inoichi turned from the straight path and walked against the vertical rows of bushes. As he crossed the first few rows, it became more difficult for him to traverse as the bushes became more wild and overgrown. Soon he found that he could only move forward if he inched his way between the bushes that stretched above his head. The bushes turned into trees and the branches hung low and sharp.

There were more images, but they were blurry, as if looking through tears. Brief images of a room darkened by heavy curtains. An apartment complex, messy and in disarray. Shouting. Crying. The face of a worried friend with short brown hair.

As he inched his way forward and into the trees, Inoichi could no longer see the groves of neat tea bushes behind him. Still, he pressed onward. Slowly, he made his way between the shrubbery, and each time he pushed a branch away, it always seemed to snap back with a vengeance. The further he went, the sharper the branches became, as if they knew an intruder was in their midst.

Briefly, he could see images of a hospital room and nurses coming and going from the room. The face of a younger, but still elderly Sandaime, sitting next to the hospital bed. A white ceiling. Then a dark cell, a scene he knew well and studied heavily from a previous trip.

The ground became steep and wet, but still he climbed and forced his way through the dense thicket until he saw blossoms of white camellias peeking out from the dark green foliage before him.

Inoichi reached for that first flower, blooming wild and free, almost enchantingly he felt. Its petals looked soft and inviting, like silk he just wanted to run his fingers through. An intoxicating fragrance he could not place lingered in the air and he yearned to pick the flower to take home with him. He only had to reach for it. He was so close. It called to him. His fingers stretched out-

Suddenly he recoiled before his fingers could graze the flower. Camellias, he knew, did not have a discernible scent.

Inoichi shuddered. It had been a close call. His fingers trembled as he made the sign to release his psycho mind transmission.

He gasped as he found himself back inside another hospital room at the bedside of an unconscious woman. Mamoru lay on the hospital bed, pale and asleep. He removed his hand from her head.

"And?" A tired voice asked.

Inoichi turned to the Sandaime and shook his head. "The same Hokage-sama. It would appear recent events have not changed the situation."

The old Hokage sighed. "I see... I suppose that is for the best."

The Yamanaka nodded, but he hesitated. "I... as skilled as I am with the mind transfer jutsu, I am no expert on determining the condition of seals. Perhaps we will need to reach out to Tsunade-sama or Jiraiya-sama for this."

"Yes, perhaps." The Hokage nodded absentmindedly, his thoughts several miles away from their conversation. "Thank you Inoichi, you are dismissed."

"Yes Hokage-sama." The Yamanaka stood and bowed before he left, the door sliding quietly shut behind him, leaving the Sandaime alone in the hospital room with the sleeping tea owner.

The old man took the seat beside the hospital bed and quietly looked at the sleeping face of Mamoru. He sighed deeply. Exhaustion lined his face and he looked the age he felt and more.

"If I knew what would happen that day..." he trailed off. But he could make no assurances, for the responsibility of a Hokage is heavy and decisions needed to be made with the entire village in mind. Even if he had known, Sarutobi Hiruzen knew very well that he would have made the same call he did that day regardless.

And so, the Hokage watched the sleeping face of Mamoru with quiet regret for a long while before he needed to return to the office of his responsibility.

* * *

Mamoru opened her eyes to a view she had seen once before. Like her second oldest memory, she awoke to a sterile white ceiling with sparsely decorated walls. The scent of antiseptic mixed with a floral aroma itched her nose. To her right, soft curtains swayed gently from an open window. Flowers lined the window pane, ranging from daisies to sunflowers, but a great number of them were red poppies. Mamoru turned her head to the left. But this time, it wasn't the old man Mamoru had come to know as the Sandaime at her beside. Instead, a short-haired brunette Mamoru knew well was filling up a glass of water.

Mamoru opened her mouth to speak, but she could only croak weakly, "Rena-chan?"

The woman jolted in surprise, managing to set the glass down safely on the bedside table. "Mamoru- you're awake!" Rena sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to grip Mamoru's hand tightly. "How are you feeling?"

"What happened?" Mamoru rasped. She touched her head and flinched. There was a bandage wrapped around her head. No doubt bruised. Then she remembered. The enemy shinobi and the Sanjuro imposter. She sat up instantly. "The genin- they need help!"

"Calm down, Mamoru." Rena said soothingly, patting her hand. "Everything's all right. Those genin are fine. They're healed up and walking already. That's the shinobi for you, nothing like us civilians."

"But how? What happened? I- I ran ta get help, but then these men- and-" Mamoru stopped to remember. Jounin she had seen in the village before had come to her rescue. What were their names again? She swallowed, finding her throat was parched and sore. She reached up and felt another set of bandages wrapped around her neck. The wound the Sanjuro imposter gave her was cleaned and bandaged.

Rena passed the glass of water to her and watched as Mamoru drank deeply.

"How did-" She cleared her throat, "How did I get here?"

Rena pursed her lips. "You were brought here by those jounin, Sarutobi Asuma and Kurenai Yuhi. I- look, I don't know all the details Mamoru, but it looks like they saved you just in time, however-" Rena hesitated for a long moment, before she finally asked, "Mamoru, think carefully. Do you know why these people tried to abduct you?"

Mamoru remembered the face of a widely smiling Sanjuro. She rubbed her wrists where he held them tightly. She shuddered and shook her head. "I don't know, I'm- I'm just a tea house owner Rena. I didn't do anything, at least, not anything to warrant this abduction."

Rena nodded sympathetically. "Did he say anything to you? Anything that might help us know why?"

Mamoru closed her eyes. The events leading up to her passing out coming back to her in full force. "He called me... Yasei no Tsubaki."

Rena furrowed her brows in thought. "Do you know what that means?"

Mamoru shook her head. "I want to say that he got the wrong person, but somehow... it was like he knew me. Rena- he, did they catch him?" She turned to look at Rena, her hands clutching Rena's tightly. "Is he locked up?"

Rena frowned, hesitating again. "That man that tried to capture you, he escaped Mamoru."

Chills ran down Mamoru's spine. She looked down at her hands. Her fingers trembled. The imposter was still out there. Would he try to come after her again? She didn't want to think about it. Not yet. Instead, she focused on what Rena has said earlier. The genin were okay. She focused on the relief that coursed through her veins when she realized Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were okay. "The genin, are you sure they're okay?"

Rena sighed with a wry smile. "They're fine Mamoru, you don't need to mother them. Hatake-san got there in time to help them. They're shinobi, and those genin are stronger than you think."

She couldn't help it. Mamoru frowned into her lap. Strong or not, they were still kids. Children should be enjoying their childhood, making memories, living life to the fullest so that they can look back with bittersweet nostalgia. Her brows furrowed deeper. It was more than she got, not able to remember anything from her own childhood.

Suddenly she felt pain on her cheek.

Rena pinched her face with a deeply annoyed expression. "What were you thinking? Don't think I don't know, I heard it from those genin! Why the hell did you follow that man so far away? What else did he do to you? Mamoru!"

"Owww-" Mamoru whined. "Nothing happened- he just nicked me is all! Rena-chan, stop-"

"No! Not until you promise me you'll be more careful!"

"I promise- stop pinching me!"

Rena huffed and released her. "I don't believe you, you're always causing trouble somehow. Like that one time I found you half-frozen in the patio just staring into space at four in the morning. You got a cold the very next day!"

Mamoru pouted. "And you call me the mom."

"I have to be for someone like you!" Rena huffed again, crossing her arms. "You really worry me sometimes."

"I'm an adult, Rena-chan. And a business owner! I can take care of myself now."

"You'd be surprised how many adults can't." Rena rolled her eyes. "Including you, you can be so careful for some things, but so oblivious to other stuff!"

Mamoru pouted again. She didn't want to bicker with her friend, but perhaps she was right about some things. She had carelessly followed the imposter to a secluded part of the village without a second thought. In her defense, she thought he was Sanjuro. Then she wondered what happened to the silk merchant. She grew quiet and somber. "Do you think that imposter killed Sanjuro-san?"

Rena-chan also grew quiet. "I don't know."

Mamoru bit her lip. "I'm a nobody, Rena. Why would anyone want to... to abduct me? Is it... could it be something from my past? He called me by a name I didn't know." She hesitated. "Do you think he knew me, from before?"

Rena gripped her hands. "... I don't know. But I know, that whatever it is, the village will take care of it. We need to trust that they will." Rena's sharp brown eyes stared determinedly into Mamoru's soft ones. "The shinobi of this village will protect you. I promise."

Mamoru nodded, her head throbbing. "Yeah, thanks..." Her lips quirked at her friend. "Mom." She teased. Rena rolled her eyes.

The door slid open.

"Mamoru nee-chan!"

"Mamoru-san!"

Naruto rushed into the room and Sakura and Sasuke walked in after him. Sakura held a bouquet of camellias in her arms.

"How are you feeling, Mamoru-san?"

Mamoru smiled. "I am fine, Sakura-chan. Just a little tired. How are you all doing?"

"Great! We're all healed up, no biggie!" Naruto bound up to her bedside. "But you were in bed for days! Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes I'm fin- days?" Mamoru's mouth opened in shock and she turned to her friend. "Rena-chan is that true? I've been out for days?"

The woman nodded with a bit of chagrin. "I didn't know how to tell you. You've been out for two full days. It's the morning of the third day now."

Mamoru paled. That long? That couldn't be, but more pressing matters arose to her mind. "The tea house! What about the renovations? And my customers!"

Rena-chan sighed. "Typical, you're such a workaholic. Don't worry about that for now."

"But I had the reopening scheduled for yesterday!" She quickly calculated her financial losses. It wasn't so bad, but a full day's worth of profits. She mentally cried. "What am I supposed'ta do!"

Naruto snickered. "I've never seen you panic like that Mamoru-nee, it's funny!" Sakura giggled. Sasuke only hnned in amusement.

Rena grinned, "You don't know her well yet, kids, but just watch. Her prim and proper business lady facade slips sometimes. She actually has a really unrefined way of speaking. When I first met her, she was a bit of a wild child."

"Rena-! Don't ya- there is no need to speak about the past." Mamoru's face visibly burned from the mention of her younger days. "And money is not a joke, Naruto-kun." Mamoru chided. "I have to pay the bills after all. Of course I would panic about this!"

Naruto snickered. Rena rolled her eyes again. "All right penny-pincher. I have to get to work now, so I'll see you later okay? Stay in bed, and don't push yourself. You kids make sure she doesn't."

The genin nodded. "Of course, we have it covered! We're supposed to be taking it easy too!" Sakura said.

"Great, I'll let the nurse know you're awake on the way out." Rena smiled. She filled the glass with water again and pushed it towards Mamoru. "They should let you out in the evening, so I'll come pick you up then."

"Thank you Rena-chan," Mamoru smiled.

Rena pinched her cheek again.

"Ow-"

"Behave!"

Mamoru scrunched her nose. "Maybe."

Rena grinned in response, then left soon after.

Naruto laughed, throwing his arms behind his head. "I thought you were all adult-like and responsible Mamoru-nee, but maybe you're not after all according to Rena-nee!"

"Hey!" Mamoru frowned. "Brat." But she grinned at Naruto and the other two. She really was getting attached to them. Watching them made her feel like she could imagine what being a child was like. "I'm glad you're all okay. You really had me worried there."

Sasuke hnned. "I told you, we're shinobi. We had it handled."

Sakura nodded. "And Kakashi-sensei came to save us, thankfully. That guy was no pushover."

Naruto grumbled. "We had it handled, just a bit more and I woulda beat him. But Kakashi-sensei had to come and steal my thunder!"

At the mention of the white-haired jounin, Mamoru worried. "Where is your teacher anyway? I hope he didn't get injured either."

The genin looked around. Sakura frowned, "Huh, that's weird, he was walking with us just now."

* * *

The hospital door closed behind Rena as she sighed. Mamoru really was so much trouble. She was just glad she was all right now and safe in the hospital. Security really needed to be upped around the village. Rena turned to glance at the copy-nin leaning against the wall beside the door.

"Hatake-san." She addressed politely.

He nodded at her. "How is she?"

"Why don't you see for yourself?"

He stayed silent.

Rena rolled her eyes. "Don't beat yourself up over it too much. You couldn't have known." She hadn't known either. She would never have pushed for Mamoru to date Sanjuro if she knew that would happen.

"If we were just a moment too late..." He began.

"But we weren't. That's the important thing."

Kakashi didn't say anything.

Rena shook her head. He was going to beat himself up over this. She just knew it. "I'm leaving, I have to get back to my duties. Make sure she doesn't pull something stupid. I have a feeling she'll try to escape and go back to her tea house."

"Yeah."

"See you later." Rena called. Waving a hand as she walked away, her short brown hair shimmered and turned black and long. Her modest gray clothes shifted into a white dress of bandages. She blinked her brown eyes once, and they opened again to reveal red orbs. Kakashi watched as Kurenai Yuhi disappeared around the corner of the hall.

* * *

After a long chat and general joking around with Mamoru, the genin got up to leave.

"Well, get better Mamoru-san! We'll see you soon!" Sakura called.

"Yeah, real soon!" Naruto winked, before Sakura elbowed him in the gut with a meaningful glare.

"Bye." Sasuke said. He hadn't even hnn-ed, and Mamoru felt a bit happy about it.

She waved goodbye to them with a grin. The door slid shut behind them. Then Mamoru's grin fell from her face and she sighed. She was tired. The entire ordeal she had just been through was hard to take in. She didn't know how to wrap her mind around it.

First the fake Sanjuro showed up to kidnap her. Then Naruto and the other two suddenly came to her rescue, but that in itself was anxiety-producing. To have children, despite being shinobi, protect her like that. It was difficult to be faced with her own physical weakness. Then the enemy-nin, allies of Sanjuro she realized, had come really close to abducting her. If the two jounin had not come... she didn't want to think about what could have happened. Rena said the village would take care of it, but could they stop something like that from happening again?

Mamoru shuddered. To be taken from everything you know by strangers, it was like that first memory of hers. Mamoru couldn't shake the feeling that it was related. It seemed like they knew her after all, going as far as to call her by a different name.

Yasei no Tsubaki.

Mamoru gazed at the camellias that Sakura had brought for her on the window sill. Wild Camellia. What did it mean? Why did he call her that?

Mamoru stared at the camellias for a long while, feeling like there was something just out of reach. An unsettling feeling gnawed at her and she felt cold. She had lived so peacefully for ten years. She supposed something was bound to happen, sort of like an almost too good to be true kind of feeling. So many good things have happened for her since coming to Konoha. Of course her past would come back to haunt her when she had finally given up on ever recovering it.

Mamoru had decided long ago that she would abandon any notion of pursuing that path. No matter how many doctors and specialists she talked to, they all said the same thing: either she would remember or she wouldn't, there was nothing they could do. They had advised that she simply live on, taking it day by day, and that she was young enough to start anew.

After a difficult adjusting period, and the help of many villagers around her, Mamoru finally did start fresh. She created Mugen Tea House- her pride, joy, and livelihood.

At that thought, Mamoru's gaze drifted from the camellias to the scenery outside the window. Seeing the trees and the buildings at eye-level, Mamoru realized that she was on the first floor of the hospital. From past experience, meaning her first time at the hospital, Mamoru remembered that the nurses didn't take kindly to a patient trying to leave before they were cleared to be released. Even in hindsight, that had been a rather trying day.

But Mamoru was older now. As an adult, she was proud to say that she always learned from her mistakes. So trying to walk out the door wasn't an option. But the window... With a furtive glance at the hospital door, Mamoru lips quirked.

Quickly, she pulled her sheets off and got to her feet. She felt a little wobbly from being in bed for a few days, but she knew once she got some tea in her that she would be fine.

Looking down and relieved that her hospital gown was rather modest, Mamoru cracked the window open further. A breath of fresh air blew on her face and she grinned. Moving the flowers to the floor, and silently promising to come back for them, she pulled a stool over so she could climb over the windowsill.

The hospital wasn't too far from Mugen, so Mamoru felt pretty confident that she could dash over there fast enough that none of the nurses could stop her. She just needed a quick fix, a dash of tea and caffeine, that's all. They couldn't begrudge her that, right?

Holding onto the window frame, Mamoru carefully stuck one leg out the window. Her gown hitched up as she straddled the window sill, exposing her legs up to her thighs. She peered over to see how far the ground was, still holding on to the frame. It wasn't so far, she realized. She just had to leap down.

As she readied to do so with a determined frown on her face, she heard the abrupt sound of a book closing. Startled, her grip on the frame slipped and she felt herself pitch forward head first towards the ground.

"Ah-!" She closed her eyes before the impact, but it never came. Instead, sturdy arms caught her in their embrace and the voice of none other than Hatake Kakashi expressed his amusement.

"It seems old habits do die hard." He muttered, before he spoke a bit louder and cheerily. "Mamoru-san, I didn't take you for an escape artist, and a bad one at that to fall out a window so easily."

Mamoru looked up at the pleasantly smiling face of Kakashi, and even through his mask, she could tell he was teasing her. She opened her mouth indignantly.

"I didn't mean ta- to," she amended quickly, "fall out- I was surprised!"

He snorted. "And injured. You should be on bedrest." If she had known him better, she would have realized the irony of this statement.

"I am perfectly fine. I just need to drink some tea."

"I don't think tea is going to heal you."

"Tea heals everything." Mamoru said matter-of-factly.

"Not physical injuries." Kakashi stared at the bandages around her neck and head, and just for a second, his expression darkened before it lightened again with amusement. "Back to bed for you." He started walking away from the window and towards the hospital entrance with purpose.

"Wait- whaddaya- what are you doing? Stop- put me down!" Mamoru said frantically. Surely he wasn't planning on carrying her all the way to her hospital room through the front entrance? "Hatake-san!"

"Who?"

"Kakashi-san!"

"Ah, well unfortunately I can't, since you might just run away."

"I won't! Just- just put me down. I can climb through my window to my room!"

They walked past a couple of nurses and orderlies in the gardens. They began to whisper and point. Mamoru felt her face turn red.

"Please!"

"Begging? I won't lie, I kind of like it."

Mamoru opened and closed her mouth, at a loss of what to say. "I- you- what? I-" She covered her face as they went through the entrance and down the halls. "This is humiliating."

"No, this is just desserts. Next time you decide to leave your bed, maybe you'll think twice."

She glared at him through her fingers. He looked like he was grinning. She huffed angrily.

How did he do it? How did he manage to get under her skin so easily? Even the most haughty businessman and entitled customer could never get her this riled up. But this irksome, strange man always knew the right- or perhaps it was wrong- words to say to tip her off balance.

She'd get him back for this. Professional business woman be damned. Mamoru didn't take anything lying down. "You'll pay for this." She said darkly, mark her words, Mamoru didn't threaten lightly.

"Are we on threatening terms already? I feel like we're becoming rather close so quickly."

Mamoru gritted her teeth. "Put me down." They had reached her room by now, and Kakashi slid the door open with his foot.

He smirked down at her as he walked to her bed, Mamoru wrapping her arms around his neck, glowering at him with an angry pout. He couldn't help but enjoy it immensely.

"As you wish," He said serenely, then he unceremoniously dropped her onto her bed, eliciting a startled shriek, before he disappeared out the window and left an indignant Mamoru staring after him with disbelief.

* * *

Red poppies mean remembrance, often used to remember those who have given their lives in battle.

A/N: Woah what! A little more background for Mamoru and some Kakashi shenanigans. What a troll. Hahahaha. Lemme know what you think!


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